Geneva tops Saints to net Tri-Cities trophy
The Geneva boys soccer squad concluded a successful run against Tri-Cities teams, edging St. Charles East 2-1 in Wednesday's Tri-City Challenge at St. Charles North.
The Vikings beat St. Charles North 3-1 on Sept. 14 and tied Batavia 1-1 on Oct. 1. Since they had the greatest success head-to-head among the four schools, they were awarded this year's trophy.
For the second straight day, Geneva (14-3-2) fell behind early.
St. Charles East (8-7-1) scored in the match's 3rd minute when Jesse Nagelberg took control of a bounding ball at center and blasted it past Geneva goalkeeper Ryan Ward.
The early advantage was certainly something the Saints were in need of after tough defeats at the hands of Waubonsie Valley and Neuqua Valley in the past four days.
"It's just been unfortunate for us in the way the results have gone for us recently," Saints coach Paul Jennison said. "I really don't think it was that even to be honest. I thought the first half we were completely on top."
The Saints would have remained on top at intermission if not for a penalty kick goal by Geneva's Brady Wahl with 10:07 remaining in the opening half.
"It was a little bit of a gift call but when you get that type of opportunity you have to take advantage," Wahl said. "I stayed pretty calm but when there's a trophy on the line there's more added pressure."
Once the second half rolled around the Vikings again turned to Kevin Hilgart. After scoring a hat trick in the second half against Glenbard South on Tuesday, Hilgart - who was playing with a broken pinkie on his right hand - netted the game-winner at 23:16 to propel the Vikings to victory.
"It just bounced out from the box and I shot it," Hilgart said. "I've been pretty lucky lately and my teammates have set me up nicely."
While winning in come-from-behind fashion isn't ideal for the Vikings, they've grown comfortable with playing with poise when behind.
"We've gotten down three or four times to quality teams this year and the guys do a nice job of staying calm," Wahl said. "We keep our heads and don't freak out and I thought we responded well to a St. Charles East team that also played very well."
While the Saints battled for 80 minutes, they just couldn't find the back of the net after their early tally.
"We've had that problem all year and really haven't put games away when we should have," Jennison said. "That's something we've got to learn from with the playoffs coming up."