Geneva hands Glenbard South its first loss

It took a second-half hat trick by Geneva's Kevin Hilgart to hand Glenbard South its first loss of the season.

Geneva took control of the Western Sun Conference race Tuesday, coming from behind to score a 3-2 victory in Glen Ellyn.

"He's been a good goal scorer for us," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said of Hilgart, who notched his first hat trick despite muddy conditions. "He hasn't had an outburst like this all season.

"I think Kevin is a bit of a mudder. He really showed some great mental toughness in the second half. The first two were great goals under any conditions, and the third one he just slipped in."

Glenbard South (11-1-2, 4-1) was in control of the first half, taking a 1-0 lead on Derek Yeh's goal off a Charlie Adams assist. The Raiders had several other good scoring opportunities, but they couldn't finish.

"Glenbard South clearly had the better run of play there," Estabrook said.

Hilgart took over in the second half, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes to help Geneva (13-3-2, 4-0-1) to the lead. Glenbard South, unable to combine and possess the ball like it had in the first half, could only get a Dan O'Brien goal late in the game, his 11th of the season.

With just Rochelle and Sycamore left on its conference schedule, Geneva looks to be in good shape.

"It would appear that way. You never know what's going to happen," Estabrook said. "We've had some weird weather games, and it's really limited us."

Geneva tied Batavia last week in a game shortened because of bad weather.

"I still don't think we've done a great job of coming up with a strategy for those situations," Estabrook said.

Glenbard South has just DeKalb and Yorkville remaining on its conference schedule.