Wahl leads Geneva to regional title

An outbreak of a flu-like virus this week at St. Charles East led to the relocation of the St. Charles East boys soccer regional championship to Millennium Field in Streamwood on Saturday.

An outstanding performance by Geneva junior Brady Wahl, a player who knows a bit about illness after missing the first couple weeks of the season with mono, resulted in the end of St. Charles East's season.

Behind a goal and assist from Wahl, the Vikings defeated the Saints 2-0 to claim their eighth regional championship since 2000. They move on to the Hoffman Estates sectional where they'll face Schaumburg at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Geneva (18-4-2) scored the only goal it would need in the 16th minute on Wahl's free kick from the 12-yard line. The left-footed Wahl's kick faded from left to right for an upper 90.

"That's called the diamond shot and Brady had a great diamond today," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "I don't think there's a keeper in the state that can make that save. If Charlie Lyon can't make that save then no one is going to make that one."

Wahl said a lot of practice over the years pays off when you get a chance to attempt a free kick from such proximity.

"They're pretty rare and to put that in for my teammates was important," he said. "I went to the side Charlie was set up because I thought he'd think I was going to go around the wall. I caught him a step to the right and it was pretty much straight over (the wall)."

The early lead, something the Vikings haven't enjoyed much lately, provided a nice change as well as a boost.

"All season we've been a comeback team," Wahl said. "But in practice and before the game we talked about coming out strong early."

The early advantage put pressure on the underdog Saints and allowed the Vikings to play their style.

"It was good to get on the scoreboard first and I think we relaxed a little bit after that," Estabrook said. "We were able to possess it more and create some opportunities."

One of those opportunities came to fruition in the 35th minute. During a possession that was maintained by Wahl's fancy footwork along the right sideline, senior forward Kevin Hilgart took control of Wahl's misfire and punched in the rebound goal.

"At halftime we realized it was going to take a miraculous effort for us to come back," St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. "Unfortunately I think everyone here knew that."

St. Charles East (11-9-2) had a difficult time creating opportunities to challenge Geneva, and specifically goalkeeper Ryan Ward, and a lot of that had to do with Geneva winning the battles at midfield.

"I told Brady we need to not only play well on the offensive side of the ball but also on the defensive side," Estabrook said. "I thought he did a great job of controlling that and we're going to need more of that to continue to go on."

The Saints, who drew the biggest cheers when the announcer shared news of the Saints 14-13 double overtime victory over St. Charles North in football, saw their season end. Perhaps what stings most is that they failed to play at the same level they did in a 2-1 loss to the Vikings on Oct. 7.

"I think we underperformed as a whole," Jennison said. "That's probably the hardest thing to deal with."