WW South squeezed out of playoffs

A goalkeeper, a defender and an attacking player converged on a ball near the goalmouth in West Chicago on Tuesday, and Geneva's Shawn Sloan came away it.

"I just happened to get to the ball first," Sloan said.

Sloan poked a ball into net early in the second half of the Vikings' 2-1 win over Wheaton Warrenville South, and it stood up as the game-winning goal that put Geneva in a Class AA sectional final against host Wheaton Academy at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Sloan's quick goal to start the second half and Adam Cornwell's quick goal to start the game lifted the Vikings (18-5-2) to the win.

"Early in the year we were the ones on the receiving ends of those goals," said Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook. "For the last couple games we've been dangerous early."

Cornwell dribbled in diagonally with a defender on his hip, toward the top of the Tigers' penalty area in the game's fourth minute. The senior's low roller snuck inside the post for the 1-0 lead.

"We had our best defender on (Cornwell), and he made a great move to free himself up and go to goal," said Tigers coach Guy Callipari. "We just didn't tuck in and get numbers behind the ball.

"We made two grave errors, defensively, and both times they capitalized."

The Tigers (19-4-4) answered Geneva's first score with solid attacking pressure that led to a Nico Galto goal in the 30th minute. Galto stepped onto a Tim Litterio serve from the right side and scored his 18th goal of the year from 6 yards out to tie the score.

"We fought back well after the first goal," said Tigers senior Scott Larson. "Both teams fought hard, with the season on the line, and it just came out their way in the end."

In the 43rd minute Andy Filipiak pushed a pass forward to Sloan, who took it nearly to the end line before cutting it back and getting to it first with two Tigers closing on him at the goalmouth.

Both teams had scoring chances from there, but Geneva's back line held up as the Tigers pushed numbers forward down the stretch.

"Sam Peniak did a phenomenal job on (Tigers forward Eric) Shrigley tonight," Estabrook said. "Eric had a few chances in that second half that I'm sure he wishes he had back, but for the most part I thought Sam did a nice job of keeping him at bay and not giving him any great opportunities."