Vikings can't find a goal in 1-0 loss at Wheaton North
By Gary Larsen

Another night of spring soccer played in the dead of winter kicked off this year’s Naperville Invitational, with wind-chill temperatures in the 20s, snow flurries, and a makeshift Wheaton North defense combining to put a freeze on Geneva’s scoring.

Wheaton North (6-3-1) fought through injury, absence, and an opposing team that attacked well for 80 minutes to post a 1-0 win over Geneva (5-7-0).

With forward Lexi Pelafas sidelined with an injury, Wheaton North junior Monica Tyler carried a heavy burden as the Falcons’ lone forward, and on a night of few scoring chances Tyler fought tooth-and-nail for the one she got in the second half, and then she made it count.

“We played with one forward (tonight) and that made it easier for Monica because if she doesn’t have to worry about anyone else, or making runs into their lanes, she is extraordinarily quick, she’s tenacious, and she won’t back down from any ball,” Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. “I think that pressure she placed upon their defender gave her that scoring chance.”

The goal came at 53 minutes when Tyler countered off of Geneva pressure and won a ball from a defender. Geneva keeper Samantha Hauser met Tyler just inside the eighteen but Tyler came away with the ball and curled a left-footed shot inside the far post.

With one of the best forwards around in Lexi Pelafas already on the bench nursing an injury, Wheaton North lost starting goalkeeper Jessica Kiely near the end of the first half, forcing central defender Emily Barry to put on her keeper gear for the second half.

The Falcons also lost starting outside mid Gracie Klatt to injury in the second half, and central defender Linnae Giuliano missed the game’s final ten minutes after suffering an injury.

“The kids responded well. They realized they had to play as a group,” McEvilly said.

Geneva’s Hope Goodman had the game’s first good shot on net at 5 minutes, tearing into a ball from 30 yards out only to see Kiely elevate and tip it over the crossbar. At 7 minutes, Geneva’s Amanda Lulek headed a shot wide on a corner kick, and for the Vikings the tone was unfortunately set for the remainder of the game.

Through 40 minutes, Giuliano, Barry and Wheaton North defenders HB Rowland and Lyndi Armstrong did all they could to slow Lulek down in the final third.

“Oh, yeah. That girl can play,” Giuliano said of Lulek. “We were just trying to double-mark her to make sure she didn’t get around us. Some of us have played with her in club so we knew how good she was. We didn’t want to give her any opportunities to show us how good she was.”

Geneva’s Megan Fitz reached the endline on the left side at 20 minutes and served a ball near-post that teammate Courtney Lardas nearly got to, Kiely left her line to stop a hard-hit Lulek shot taken from the right side at 23 minutes, and the Falcons’ senior keeper hit the turf at 29 minutes to snare another good blast taken by Lardas from 18 yards out.

It was more of the same in second half for Geneva, which pressured hard but couldn’t quite find a goal.

“We worked hard tonight, kept the intensity up, our forwards were pressuring the ball. We were on their half most of the time,” Geneva junior Annie Waldoch said. “It was just one of those nights when we couldn’t get it in the back of the net. We had a lot of opportunities and we needed to finish when we had those chances.”

Geneva coach Megan Owens would like to see her side begin to find payoffs for the pressure they’ve been able to apply to teams for most of the year.

“We’re working (on finishing). Sometimes we’re tentative to take the shot,” Owens said. “We do a great job of passing and possessing but at some point we’re trying to encourage them to be a little selfish. Take the shot, because good things will happen when you put it on goal. We just need to take shots and be more aggressive inside the eighteen. But eventually it will happen. We’re solid everywhere else and we’re working on it.”

Kiely landed hard on the turf at the very end of the half and had to leave the game, leaving Barry to take over in net for the second half. Lulek fired on Barry from point-blank range near the post at 57 minutes, Barry stopped it, and Lulek’s follow-up shot went wide.

“Lulek up top is just scary good,” McEvilly said. “(Giuliano), through that first sixty minutes or so, played faster and more physical against a kid that was playing extraordinarily well.”

Giuliano was just happy to see her side get the ‘W’.

“Our team was so determined to beat (Geneva) after they knocked us out of regionals last year,” Giuliano said. “We worked hard to show them that they couldn’t run over us like they did last year.”

The injury parade continued in the second half when both Klatt and Geneva’s Molly Axen had to be helped off the field, and the Falcons kept a clean sheet with Geneva pressing hard through the game’s final 20 minutes.

“The good news is we dominated the game,” Owens said. “We’ve controlled possession in almost every game we’ve played this year. We’ve had a lot of close losses that we’ve dominated the entire game, so the girls know they can play with anybody. It’s just getting all eleven players clicking together at once. Once we can do that, we’re going to be pretty tough to stop.”