Poythress picks up intensity, keys Geneva's 2-0 win
Geneva sophomore midfielder Joshua Poythress has been pretty mellow and easygoing during his young career with the Vikings.
That all changed during Saturday's non-conference boys soccer match against Wheaton Academy at Burgess Field.
Poythress played with a sense of urgency, setting up a pair of goals, to lead Geneva to a 2-0 victory.
"This is my second year on varsity and I haven't felt like I've made a huge impact," Poythress said. "I felt like I should step up my game with more urgency and today I kind of did that better."
"He's really a laidback kid. You could call him a cool customer," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "Sometimes we have to check his pulse to make sure that he's playing as hard as we want him to."
Geneva (1-0-1) first scored 12:58 into the contest on a penalty kick by Brady Wahl. The free kick was awarded to the Vikings when a handball was committed on Poythress' cross in the penalty area.
"I was just trying to get a cross for someone to get in on," Poythress said. "Luckily it hit his hand."
Wheaton Academy (1-1-0) had more opportunities than Geneva to score in the opening 40 minutes, but couldn't find the back of the net where Vikings goalkeeper Steven Soderstrom protected it with 5 first-half saves.
"He got some pretty dangerous crosses today," Estabrook said. "He's been anxiously waiting his time to get his first varsity start and he proved that he was ready for it today."
The Warriors, who were dealt a huge blow on Tuesday when senior Tim Daniels (34 goals, 12 assists in 2009) fractured his ankle, showed an ability to create scoring chances, but couldn't finish.
"I think everyone was a little nervous coming in today without Tim," Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. "We have players who have an attacking mindset and they just need to step up into a bigger role and the void Tim has left."
Wahl, who nearly tallied his second goal with 1:53 left in the first half when his shot caromed off the right goalpost, lofted a long, high pass to Poythress to help set up Geneva's final score. Poythress dribbled the ball to the right of the box with one defender in pursuit. The defender fell to the turf and Poythress dished the ball to senior Carlos Gonzalez who blasted it in from about 10 yards at the 54th minute.
"I just went for the ball because I knew he was going to try to get it from me and I guess he fell weird then," Poythress said. "I saw a player (Gonzalez) and played it to him as quickly as I could."
The Warriors almost broke the shutout when Frank Della Torre had an open look with 3:45 remaining, but Soderstrom made a huge save.
"We had some opportunities but we just didn't finish our chances," Della Torre said. "We can definitely bounce back. We'll miss (Daniels) because he's a great finisher so we'll need to increase our hunger for goals and finish our chances."