Geneva win a set up
Those people who track the manner in which soccer goals are scored always point to the impact set plays can have on a match.
Corner kicks, free kicks, throw-ins - these plays account for a vast majority of the goals.
Geneva did its part to emphasize that point Monday, scoring 3 goals after set pieces in the second half and overturning an early St. Charles North (5-5) lead for a 3-1 nonconference victory.
The ironic thing is that the Vikings have yet to really work on patterns from set pieces. As raw as they were with that facet of the game, they certainly seemed comfortable Monday night.
"That's something we're going to focus on more as the season goes on," said Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook. "We've got guys who can hit those dead balls and guys who can get those served balls. It's encouraging that when we put in some better set pieces, we should be pretty dangerous."
Seamus Kaminski got the Vikings (7-2-1) on the scoreboard 17 minutes into the second half when he turned and powered home a long free kick from midfield.
That goal offset St. Charles North's opener, scored after a fine dribble by Zack Matuszak in the 29th minute of the first half.
Ironically, Geneva had more possession in the later stages of the first half, when it trailed.
The second half was filled with more stoppages - which of course led to the opportunities from which the Vikings scored.
"After a rough first half, I was happy with how the guys bounced back," Geneva junior midfielder Brady Wahl said. "It was a good second half for our team to move forward this season."
The statistics concerning the impact of set pieces varies from league to league and season to season.
A year ago in the English Premier League, 33 percent of goals came from set-piece play. Some teams scored half their goals following a stoppage in play.
The numbers are less easy to track in high school.
But with narrower fields and sometimes uncertain defending, the impact of strong set-piece play cannot be understated.
Brandon Sloan put away a loose ball with 11 minutes left while a Brady Wahl free kick was headed in by Robbie Johnson with just over 2 minutes to play.
"(Johnson), I play club with him," Wahl said. "We have a good connection. We have that chemistry down and I like to find him in the box."
The North Stars got a good chance to see how they defended against those set pieces, and coach Eric Willson said there will some more work done in that regard in coming days.
"We made a point of our set plays and the way we're supposed to defend," Willson said. "There's three pretty huge mistakes that we made in the second half that all led to goals. That's disappointing."