Geneva, St. Charles N. can’t break tie
When it comes to girls soccer competition, Geneva and St. Charles North share more than Blue as a dominant school color. These two area rivals bring a mutual that supersedes all the other Tri-Cities matchups, even the traditional rivalries — St. Charles North-St. Charles East and Batavia-Geneva.
The latest revival of this matchup took place Tuesday at St. Charles North and finished 1-1. Geneva (8-2-4) took the lead with 17 minutes left when Amanda Lulek took a pass from midfield and scored. St. Charles North (8-2-1) equalized with just 1:48 to play after Lauren Koehl was taken down in the penalty area and Kelly Manski scored from the resulting penalty kick.
Those goals were the exclamation points in a match whose story line centered around the very high competitive level between the squads.
“I definitely think that of all the Tri-Cities teams, North’s our biggest rival,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “I don’t think there’s any question of that. Over the past three years, there always seems to be something. It’s never just a game. We’ve had some nice battles.”
Certainly not for every substitution, but there were moments on Tuesday where club teammates met at the halfway line before entering the field and shared a few words. That familiarity and the desire to achieve one-upmanship manifested itself in hard tackling, a very fast pace of play and in attacks that often came with lightning quickness.
“I thought, in the second half, that we had a ton of chances and that there were some that should have been in the back of the net,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “So I was happy to come out with a tie.”
Vostal mentioned the extra intensity of the Geneva-St. Charles North rivalry.
“We talk about how they can be friends after 9 o’clock or whatever it is,” Vostal said. “It’s not a mind game. I just want them to focus on playing for North. Whoever they know after the game is great.”
The match leaves the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title up for grabs. Geneva still has Batavia as a barrier to a perfect season while St. Charles North must still face St. Charles East.
“I think it’s a disappointment for both sides,” Owens said. “I think both sides were looking for a victory. I think North played well tonight.”
For much of the match, the player standing between St. Charles North and the lead was Geneva goalie Marisa Schroyer. The senior made a pair of key saves in the first half, but was even sharper in the second half to keep the match scoreless.
“I saw a lot of action, more than I’m used to seeing,” Schroyer said. “But I think the team played very well and kept pressuring until the very end.”
But the Vikings eventually started to string some passes together from midfield, culminating in Lulek’s goal.
“I had my head in the game, I saw the ball, took it wide, didn’t see anybody in the box, so I took a shot,” Lulek said. “At first, I looked up to see if anyone was in the center. I didn’t really see anybody in there, so I took a shot and it went in.”
Geneva had other chances immediately after its goal, but the North Stars sprung Koehl free and the senior earned the penalty kick from which Manski tied the match.
“It’s kind of spur of the moment, thinking where the goalie’s going to go and I want to do the opposite,” Manski said. “I was focused and just hit it.”