Schaumburg silences second-seed Geneva
Revenge is sweet.
One year after seeing its season end abruptly to Geneva in a sectional semifinal, No. 12 Schaumburg (12-5-1) would return the favor Tuesday night in Hoffman Estates with an impressive 2-0 victory over the No. 2 Vikings (18-5-2) and book its place in the Class 3A boys soccer sectional final at 6 p.m. Friday against Wheaton North.
The Saxons would use goals on either side of the break from Erhan Caglayan and Declan Geragthy, then proceed to outwork their opponents and watch their backline not allow the Vikings to maintain any type of possession.
"We knew at the time of our seeding meeting that Schaumburg was better than their record indicated, and we also knew they had some guys back from a team last year that was a pretty good side ... so it wouldn't be fair to call them a cinderella-type of team," said Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook.
"The fact is they just didn't allow us to get anything going, and (they) deserved to come away with a victory tonight."
Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreioskouei knew after watching film on with assistant Brad Stevens, that if his club could concentrate on the dynamic strikeforce of Brady Wahl and Kevin Hilgart, his team would not only slow the Vikings attack, but also have a chance to grab a victory.
"Hilgart is so good at posting (up) top and everything goes through Wahl in the middle, so we asked Declan (Geraghty) to mark Wahl, and still be our attacking midfielder," Mehreioskouei said. "And as I've said so many times before, he (Declan) just seems to rise to the occasion and work that much harder than anyone else out there."
The Saxons would waste little time in the early stages as Geraghty and Caglayan would each make an imprint on the match during the first quarter hour of play, while the backline of Blake Nelson, Maciej Herda and Mark Bielanski each tackled with near perfection, while winning most 50-50 balls which came their way.
Just when it appeared the Vikings would absorb and survive the Saxons' blistering first-half pace, Caglayan would find the back of the net at 40 minutes when he finished with a low drive off a Tim Olson helper.
"I had to be selfish at that point and go for (it) then, and getting that goal right at the end was huge for us," said Caglayan of his 12th of the season. "It gave us a lot of momentum heading into the second half.
With a sense of urgency after the break, the Vikings would step up their efforts to draw even, and with the rain beginning to increase, Saxons keeper Jason Wojcik would earn his keep with saves on Wahl (twice), Craig Hancock and Jeff Williams.
Williams, the Vikings' captain, came forward out of the back to strike a cracker off a terrific helper from John Wilger.
Just before the Williams blast, Geraghty would give the Saxons a breath of fresh air when he went past Ryan Ward in close.
"Coach had the perfect formation and tactical plan for us tonight," Geraghty said. "We executed (it) just the way he wanted us to, and tonight it was a true team effort that helped put us through."