Geneva, St. Charles East battle to 2-2 deadlock

As the underdog, Geneva saw the positives of a 2-2 tie with St. Charles East in Tuesday’s Upstate Eight River meeting.

As the No. 5-rated team, the Saints weren’t happy with the outcome, which erased their last hope for a share of the division title.

“When you come out with a draw, not losing is the only positive,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “With the talent we have, we feel we should win a game like this, but all we can do now is look forward.”

Geneva (6-4-4, 2-3-2) got on the scoreboard first and also regained the lead, but finished with a second straight tie.

The Saints (12-2-2, 4-1-1), fresh off a 5-1 victory over rival St. Charles North, still have a division date at Streamwood, but cannot catch a Batavia squad taking a 5-0 mark into its league finale.

“With our record compared to theirs, it’s a good outcome,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “The best thing is we scored two goals against a really good team and fought for 80 minutes. (Goalie) Duncan (Turnbull) played his best game of the year.”

Geneva’s Matt Waldoch used a Jason Lagger pass at 9:30 to record his first goal of the season.

“We talked about Jason putting enough spin with his left foot for me to be able to split into a gap and get a right-foot touch,” Waldoch said. “And it worked.”

However, Zach Manibog celebrated his return to action for the Saints after missing two games due to injury. The senior capitalized on a Taylor Ortiz assist just 3:30 prior to halftime for his ninth goal.

“Taylor had a nice flick on an airborne ball and with the defender on my back, I just directed it past their keeper,” Manibog said.

The Vikings reclaimed the lead just 3:20 into the second half when Lagger chalked up his second assist of the match finding Drew Klaus for his fifth header of the year.

“As long as my teammates get me the ball, I’ll get my head on it. It’s what we practice,” Klaus said.

East got the equalizer with 14:32 left in the game as Jordan Moore converted a penalty kick for his fifth goal.

“Knowing we were down a goal and only some much time, I knew I had to score, so I relied on some positive mental reinforcement telling myself I would score,” Moore said.

“From my view, the penalty was debatable and obviously we want a win, but knowing they’re one of the top teams in the area and one of the better teams in the state, it’s still a good result,” Turnbull said. “It still feels like we’re coming together as a team with each game.”