Batavia feels fortunate to tie St. Charles North

Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco wasn't surprised host St. Charles North scored a late goal to force a 1-1 tie Wednesday in the Tri-City Challenge.

He was surprised they only scored once.

The North Stars' lone goal was long overdue as they had an abundance of scoring opportunities in the second half thwarted by Batavia's defenders and goalkeeper Ty Witkowski.

"I'm surprised they didn't score more," Gianfrancesco said. "They really took it to us in the second half and we were lucky to come out 1-1."

Zack Matuszak netted the North Stars goal from senior forward James Reed at the 57th minute.

Batavia (7-6-3) did little offensively in the second half. A lot of that had to do with Eduardo Cuatle being banged up. While Cuatle had minutes in the opening half, Gianfrancesco sidelined him in the second half.

"I took him out and even with a change we still weren't generating any offense," Gianfrancesco said. "Basically just playing defense for the rest of the half."

While Batavia received a fine defensive effort to salvage the tie, the North Stars had a defensive lapse in the final 25 seconds of the first half which resulted in the Bulldogs' lone score.

"It was maybe the one chance they got in the first half," St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. "It's us not being able to read a flighted ball in the box that goes over a guy's head who should've got his head on the ball. We hit a bad clear and before you know it a guy's waiting in front of the keeper all by himself."

That guy was Mitch Albrecht who blasted a shot past North Stars goalkeeper Tyler McEnery.

This defense blunder was the lowlight of a defensive performance that had Willson calling the team's defending in the box as the worst in program history.

"I'm tired of it," he said. "I don't question these guys heart, or their energy or their wont to win the game. It's the lack of focus at times that's got to be sorted out because we're running out of games to prepare for these playoffs."

In the midst of the second of back-to-back 4-match weeks, the Bulldogs will look to overcome a second half in which they were outplayed.

"We didn't meet their aggressiveness in the second half at all," Gianfrancesco said. "We got a couple of other guys out there today and still have to shuffle some people around and are hoping Hinsdale South (Thursday) will be a little easier and less physical."