Geneva doubles up Batavia
Geneva senior Catherine Allon, on her birthday, got a postmatch present in the form of an ice bag to hold to her cheek. The soreness came courtesy of a late-match collision with a Batavia player.
Geneva. Batavia. Ice bag. Isn’t this the intensity that sums up this long-time rivalry? For all the talk of other heated matchups, and certainly there are some, Batavia vs. Geneva still gets both teams performing at a higher level physically.
The visiting Vikings won the Upstate Eight Conference River Division contest 4-2, though the nature of the rivalry showed when Batavia rallied from a 3-0 deficit to trail only 3-2 with 33 minutes to play before the Vikings eventually sealed the match on Michaela Loebel’s second goal of the game.
“This is really the definition of the rivalry,” Allon said. “In the first half, we came out really strong. We were worried the game was going to get called because of storms. So we wanted to get some goals. I think we maybe came out a little laid back and Batavia came back strong. Once they scored that goal, they started going really hard got some momentum and we answered at the end.”
The victory means Geneva (12-4-4, 4-0-1) has one hand on the UEC River trophy. The Vikings can clinch their second consecutive conference title if they defeat Elgin in their May 8 regular season finale.
“It feels really good,” Allon said. “This was one of our top goals for the season. It feels really good to almost have that goal in our hands.”
Should the Vikings top Elgin, the title would be their second in as many years in the Upstate Eight. In those two seasons, Geneva is 4-0-2 against Tri-Cities opponents.
“It means a lot to them,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “A lot of people questioned if Geneva would be able to hang with the big dogs in the Tri-Cities. It’s just nice to have won it last year and to have put ourselves in a very good position to win it again this year.”
Batavia (8-6-1, 2-3) found itself behind 3-0 within a half-hour of play. Amanda Lulek opened the scoring after 10 minutes, Loebel doubled the lead after 19 minutes and Molly Axen hit a close-range shot into the goal with just under 15 minutes left in the half to put the Vikings in a commanding position.
But in the continuation of a season-long trend, the Bulldogs didn’t surrender at that point and found a way to work back into the match.
“If you look even at the games we’ve lost, we go all the way to the end,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “That’s a great trademark to this team. We’re not giving up. We’re just going to keep going.”
Perhaps the most important goal in keeping the match competitive throughout came with 5 minutes before halftime when Karina Rosales took the ball at the top right corner of the penalty area and kept moving left before hitting a left-footed shot into the left portion of the net.
“It gave us something to work with at halftime, but it also gave us something to work with at that moment,” Gianfrancesco said. “You saw the energy level go up. And at half, it was something to work with. I told them that it was 3-1 and asked them if we could score three in the second half. They did. Why couldn’t we?”
The Bulldogs regrouped and pressed for their second goal early in the second half. The goal came after 6 minutes through Jessica Milanese, who took an Alex Hanna through ball and scored.
“That’s just what Jess does,” Gianfrancesco said. “She’s a hard worker. We started putting together some passes. I think we were more physical at the start of the second half.”
With the score 3-2, the need to respond against its rival now fell to Geneva, and the Vikings did not disappoint. Two minutes after Milanese’s goal, Maggie Bodine hit the post and in the ensuing scramble, Batavia goalie Nikki Seiton palmed a shot off the crossbar.
“Once they got that second goal, we really had to step up our game,” Allon said.
The play became more physical in the last half-hour and Geneva began to shut Batavia’s path into the penalty area.
Loebel got what proved to be the final goal of the match when she took a Hope Goodman cross and headed into the net with 10 minutes to play.
“We responded,” Owens said. “We got a little nervous, but that’s something we have to work on. We’re young. We talked at halftime that a 2-goal lead is the most dangerous and that you can’t panic. I think our seniors helped us tonight.”
Like Geneva, Batavia has a week before its next match. The Bulldogs end the regular season with their final conference match on Tuesday against Streamwood and prepare for postseason action when they travel to Oswego on Thursday.
“Coming into this game, I didn’t think we were playing badly, and I don’t think we played badly against Geneva,” Gianfrancesco said. “I want to keep that level of play next week.”