Geneva, St. Charles East battle to 0-0 draw
There was mutual frustration as Geneva and St. Charles East walked off the Norris Stadium field at halftime of Wednesday’s St. Charles East Invitational opener for both teams.
From Geneva’s perspective, the angst was caused by an absolute abundance of opportunities, including some gilt-edged scoring chances where the Vikings came close to scoring but still failed to find the back of the net.
On St. Charles’ side of the halftime ledger, there was disappointment in allowing such domination and 40 futile minutes in which very few chances were created.
St. Charles East played better in patches in the second half and Geneva continued to carve chances but neither team found a way to score a goal — and the match finished 0-0.
“In the first half, we were awful,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “In the second half, we turned it around. I said it was a big positive going in at halftime nil-nil. We knew what they were throwing at us, but to be fair, we hadn’t produced anything at all ourselves.”
Geneva’s chances began very early in the match but reached a crescendo after a 17 minutes of play. First Amanda Lulek saw a chipped shot go just over the bar. Moments later, Catherine Allon shot firmly over the crossbar. While the domination continued through the half, the connections never completely clicked for the visitors.
“I’m just frustrated for them,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “They’re a very good team and they played very, very well today. I believe that we controlled most of the game. It’s just frustrating that the final score didn’t show that.”
St. Charles East tore into Geneva from the opening kickoff of the second half and nearly took the lead after 5 minutes when Lauren Rohrmeier sent a sharp right wing cross that Vikings sweeper Demi Miller had to scramble to safety.
“I think we took care of it well,” Miller said. “We all cleared it well and played well the whole time.”
Three minutes later, Morgan Ketterling sent a left wing cross that Rohrmeier met and volleyed toward net, only to strike the right post.
“We know we’ve got quality and it’s making sure we come out,” Jennison said. “Last year, we were a great 60-70-minute team. We’d start great and fade. I’d rather be a team that starts slow and gets better toward the end. We’ll see.”
Geneva soon shifted back toward the attack and found chances falling its way starting with a combination move 11 minutes into the half. Hope Goodman, Kristin Rodriguez and Allon combined in the midfield, before Allon passed to Caitrin Griffin, who shot over the crossbar.
A quarter-hour into the half, Geneva continued to reassert itself, with Lulek passing to Allon, whose shot was saved.
Griffin had another strong chance with 15 minutes to play when the Vikings refused to give up on a ball that ultimately stayed in bounds. Griffin took her shot from the top right portion of the penalty area, but sent the ball over the crossbar.
“We were fighting for it most of the game and it was in their end for most of the game,” Griffin said. “It’s really frustrating not to put one in. But we get to play them next Tuesday and hopefully we’ll come out of that with a win.”
While Wednesday’s match was part of the Saints round robin tournament, it does not count as the teams’ Upstate Eight Conference River match. That match does take place on Tuesday at Geneva’s Burgess Field.
Before that, both the Saints and Vikings are still alive in the tournament. Schaumburg grabbed an early advantage on Wednesday when it defeated Naperville Central, 2-1. Today, Schaumburg meets Geneva at 5 p.m. and St. Charles East meets Naperville Central at 7 p.m. The tournament concludes on Saturday.