Geneva blanks York for regional crown
Geneva senior Brady Wahl has experienced a great deal on the soccer field during his illustrious career.
Now that he's nearing the end, he knows that each game could be his last, so he made sure he'd play at least one more game for the Vikings.
In the 54th minute of Friday's Class 3A Lake Park regional, York goalkeeper Carmine Sementa batted a corner kick by Wahl down, but Wahl eventually recovered the loose ball just outside of the penalty area and blasted it past Sementa to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
Geneva would tack on a couple insurance goals later in the second half to win 3-0.
“That was quite the adventure,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “I was pretty confident coming into this game. I knew York had a pretty good squad but I knew if we played well we'd come out victorious.”
Geneva (13-9-1) had more opportunities to jump ahead of York in the second half, but the back of net eluded the Vikings until Wahl's goal.
“We didn't do so well in the first half but I think we broke the ice with that first goal,” Wahl said. “It felt good to score that first one for my teammates and be able to keep pouring it on.”
While momentum appeared to be with the Vikings after taking the lead, the Dukes responded in strong fashion and continued to press Geneva and challenge goalkeeper Steven Soderstrom who would hang on to post the shutout.
“He's a great athlete and was on his game tonight,” Estabrook said. “He came up big when we needed him and York put on all kinds of pressure. That (Dave Selvaggi) is quite a player and created a lot of havoc.”
Havoc sounds a lot like Hancock and it was Craig Hancock who starred for the Vikings in the final 10 minutes. First he delivered a perfect feed to Seamus Kaminski with 8:29 remaining, which Kaminski netted to put the Vikings ahead 2-0. Then, the third-year player, scored his first career goal on about a 30-yard seed that Sementa could barely get a hand on before it rattled the back of the net.
“Brady's goal was phenomenal and the ball from (Hancock) to (Kaminski) was a thing of beauty,” Estabrook said. “(Hancock) always talks about the glory shot and you don't get a sweeter strike than that.”
Hancock joked that he could've scored at other times during his career but was saving it for during a regional championship game.
“I just kind of cranked it and let if fly,” he said. “I've done them in games that really didn't matter, summer games, and I just waited until the regional final to score a goal.”
Geneva will play either St. Charles East or Leyden at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Schaumburg sectional.
“This is my third regional championship since sophomore year but I have never won a sectional,” Wahl said. “Hopefully we can continue working hard because the sky is the limit if we stay focused.”