Geneva opens floodgates in second half
In the first half of Saturday afternoon’s Class 3A West Chicago regional final, Geneva had nothing but problems earning good scoring chances.
In the second half the Vikings had nothing but solutions.
Geneva scored six times in the second half to defeat Wheaton North 6-0. The Vikings (15-4-4) advance to play in Tuesday’s Schaumburg sectional semifinal against either St. Charles North or St. Charles East.
“Once we got going, the floodgates just opened a little bit,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “We kind of had that feeling after the first half if we got one in it would help a little bit with our momentum. It was just a great team effort across the board.”
“They’re extraordinarily dangerous,” Falcons coach Tim McEvilly said of the Vikings. “We did a very good job in the first half. I mean, they controlled the game for 80 minutes, but in the first half we were able to at least eliminate dangerous opportunities. We had our midfielders back, we were compact, we didn’t give them clear looks at goal. (Goalkeeper Jessica Kiely) really didn’t have to do much other than off of some corner kicks.
“In the second half we gave them space, we let them step in front of us. Missing some players... . Once they got one or two, the dominoes just fell.”
The first domino fell in the 46th minute when Geneva sophomore Michaela Loebel slid a pass across the penalty area to senior Catherine Allon, who scored from 14 yards out. Three minutes later Kailey Rote and Molly Axen ran a give-and-go, with Axen centering to Allon for another goal.
Amanda Lulek scored in the 53rd minute, Loebel tallied in the 66th, freshman Mary Landry in the 75th and Catie Coghlan in the 78th off a Caitrin Griffin pass.
“Once we get our momentum going we start to pick up our speed of play and get our heads up and start connecting,” Allon said. “So once we get the first goal I think everything starts to click with us.”
“We just really emphasized playing to feet, connecting, and we had a tremendous second half,” Owens said.
Saturday’s result was much different than the teams’ previous meeting this season April 20, when Geneva needed overtime to win 2-1 in the Naperville Invitational.
“The first game we played them was an even game,” McEvilly said.
Missing Linnae Giuliano due to injury and losing Lyndi Armstrong early in the game forced Wheaton North to shuffle its lineup, and eventually that caught up to the Falcons (10-10-1).
“It makes all the difference in the world,” McEvilly added.
The Falcons managed just 4 shots, none on goal.
“Our defense is phenomenal,” Allon said. “We can always count on them. They are solid every single game. They work great together.”