Boys soccer: St. Charles East blanks Geneva

After a slow start to the season, St. Charles East's boys soccer team has certainly picked up the pace.

On the heels of their championship performance (2-0-1) at last weekend's Gateway City Classic in St. Louis, the Saints (10-4-2, 4-1) continued to gather momentum during Tuesday night's 3-0 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over Geneva on Tri-Cities Night in Batavia.

"It has been fun," admitted Saints coach Paul Jennison, whose team has compiled a 9-1-2 mark over its last 12 matches. "They're really starting to gel as a group.

"They had some adversity early. We told them after Week 1 when we were 1-3 that we would know that either we were going to be a very decent team or a very poor team by the end of the year. They've responded very well."

Senior Mitch Dorsey came off the bench to score the game's first goal as he dribbled through the middle of the field before sending a 25-yard blast into the right-hand corner of the net.

"Not starting, I just wanted to go in and I was pumped up for the opportunity," said Dorsey. "The guy was on my right so I took it with my left (foot) and dribbled inside. The space was there so I just took it."

"To be able to bring a player of his quality off the bench, that should say what we're working with," Jennison said of Dorsey. "He understood the role he was told to do today and obviously it was nice that he put one away."

Midway through the second half, the Saints extended the margin to 2-0 as senior forward Jasminko Dizdarevic broke free from the Geneva defense to score a goal that served as a backbreaker of sorts for the Vikings (4-6-4, 0-3-1).

"The big moment of the game was when they scored that second goal," said Vikings coach Ryan Estabrook. "We didn't have a good defensive cover in the back. That's a mistake we shouldn't be making at this time of the year.

"I thought we played pretty well in the first half and could have had a goal or two but we just couldn't respond after that second goal."

Four minutes later, senior midfielder Gustavo Mancera received a feed from junior teammate Chris Edgerton and sent a low left-footed shot past Vikings keeper Jason Morales to provide added insurance for the Saints.

"We've got the potential to be very good," said Jennison. "There's still a lot of work for us to do but they've had a lot of quality results the past few weeks. I'm proud of them for that."

"It is feeling like we know where we're at going into the playoffs," said Dorsey. "I think the main difference is that we're getting comfortable with each other."

Geneva, on the other hand, is still searching for some consistency along with its first conference victory.

"We just need to put together an entire game," said Estabrook. "There's a lot of facets of the game that aren't quite sharp enough yet. It comes down to a lot of mental things."