Sloan's strike ignites Geneva

For nearly 25 minutes at the start of their Western Sun Conference match Thursday, Batavia's quick defense thwarted one Geneva surge after another.

The Bulldogs controlled their goal at the south end of their rival's field while goalkeeper Adam Spencer made himself at home.

But Geneva junior Shawn Sloan knew it was just a matter of time.

"We just kept pressing them, and getting chances," Sloan said. "We knew sooner or later we were going to put one away."

Geneva broke through when Sloan knocked in a deflection off a pooch kick by teammate Brian Holbrook

"I saw it going out to Holbrook, and he played a good ball over the top," Sloan said. "Their goalie slipped, and I was able to beat him to the rebound."

The Vikings scored three times in the final 16 minutes of the first half, then held on to win by that same 3-0 score, and improve to 8-5-2, 3-0.

"(Batavia) did a nice job of covering well in the back and it took us a long time to find some holes," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "We had a majority of the possessions tonight, and most of those were in the middle of the field."

Sloan's goal lit a fire under the Bulldogs, (2-10-2, 2-2) who created several scoring opportunities late in the first half. But Geneva keeper Greg Duff was up to the challenge.

"We were playing pretty well, getting some shots, but you have to be able to clear the ball," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "That's been a season-long situation for us."

With just over two minutes left in the half, Adam Cornwell used his head to put in the Vikings' second goal off a corner kick by Sloan.

Half a minute later, Max Cary picked the ball out from a scrum in front of the Batavia goal and punched it in.

"I was trailing, and was able to pick my spot," Cary said. "That one was kind of demoralizing for (Batavia), and it boosted our confidence even more."

The Vikings took care of the ball in the second half, leaving their frustrated guests little to work with.

"That's the way we like to play defense," Estabrook said. "We pressured everywhere, and didn't give them any time to set up an offense or decipher what was happening on our side of the ball."

The win was a perfect way for the Vikings to head into their homecoming weekend.

"I was really pleased that we got to play so many players for long stretches in the second half," Estabrook said. "With a crowd like this tonight, it was a great experience for those guys to play in front of so many classmates and community members."