Geneva pulls out 1st win at SCE invite

As originally scheduled, Geneva wasn't supposed to have played three matches in three days in the St. Charles East girls soccer invitational.

But when Wednesday's contest with Naperville Central was canceled due to poor weather and moved instead to Friday - the Vikings encountered a game-game-game gauntlet.

Geneva capped its hectic schedule on Saturday at Norris Stadium with its first win in the four-team round robin tournament - a 1-0 victory over the host Saints.

"It's a good experience," Geneva coach Megan Owens said. "Last year, we would have given anything to have been playing this strongly this early in the season. We had a tremendous game against Naperville Central."

The lone goal of Saturday's game came 13 minutes into the match when a defending St. Charles player misdirected the ball past St. Charles East goalie Zoe Samaan for an own goal.

"It's so tough," Samaan said. "I was caught off-guard. I trust my defense so much and this isn't going to change anything. Everyone's human and we're going to move on and learn from all this."

Geneva (4-2-1) rebounded from its 3-2 loss to Naperville Central - a match in which the Vikings stayed close to the Redhawks throughout before losing via a late goal.

"We're looking to get some rest," Owens said. "We've got some quite major injuries to rest up and try to heal in the meantime. We had a late game (Friday) but I think we held up well. I think we put more pressure on them than they put on us."

The irony is that St. Charles East's strongest area so far this season has been its back line. After the own goal, the Saints worked to limit Geneva's chances, though in truth, neither team created many clear opportunities.

"We have one of the best back lines around," Samaan said. "We don't have a weak link back there."

Geneva did have better chances. But Kerry Savage and Hannah Ketterling forced Jenny Lienau to make sharp saves in a sequence shortly after the Vikings took the lead.

"I think our defense did a great job," Owens said. "They looked as solid as they've looked. They really have started to click."

Overall, St. Charles East's play was somewhat disjointed - never poor - but never quite as solid as on Thursday in a 1-0 defeat to tournament champion Naperville Central.

"I think tonight, in the first half, we were so nervous," Samaan said. "I think we were thinking about last year and we were playing on adrenaline and we lost our touch and lost focus of what we want to be doing as St. Charles East. We've got to get back in and play our game."

The Saints (2-3) have yet to reschedule their match with Schaumburg, and so finish their tournament with an 0-2 record.

"We came in and wanted to beat (Geneva)," Samaan said. "We just had a dysfunction. We have a practice Monday and three games next week and (St. Charles) North next Saturday. We're going to get ready for it."