Batavia will take on Geneva at 5:30 p.m. and St. Charles East will battle St. Charles North at approximately 7:30 p.m. as the four soccer programs are the headlining acts for the annual Tri-Cities Night on Thursday at St. Charles East’s Norris Stadium 

While they’ll be fighting for victory, they’ll also be doing it for a cause that goes beyond the final score as this special event’s central purpose is to get together and celebrate the wonderful soccer community that exists in the Tri-Cities area while raising money for a good cause that hits close to home.

This year, they are raising money for Haly (Young) Barker, a dance team assistant coach at St. Charles East. She was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder, just this summer, right after one of the most memorable days of her life.

“Haly was one of the dancers on the first dance team I coached 13 years ago,” St. Charles East dance team coach Hannah Bohn said. “Over the years she has not only developed into an amazing coach, but is also my best friend. I had the honor of being the Maid of Honor in her wedding in June.”

Because of GBS, Barker’s immune system mistakenly attacked part of her peripheral nervous system - the network of nerves that carry signs from her brain and spinal cord to the rest of her body.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, GBS begins suddenly and can increase in intensity over a period of hours, days, or weeks until certain muscles cannot be used at all. Some cases of GBS are very mild and only marked by brief weakness. Others cause nearly devastating paralysis, leaving the person unable to breathe on their own. In these cases, the disorder is life-threatening—potentially interfering with breathing, blood pressure, or heart rate. Fortunately, most people eventually recover from even the most severe cases of GBS. After recovery, people may continue to have some weakness.

Haly was celebrating one of the happiest days of her life on June 6, 2024 when she married her husband Justin Barker in Black River Falls, Wisc. 

Just eight days later, the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon in Jamaica. The following day, Haly rushed off to the emergency room at Delnor Hospital in Geneva due to excruciating back and neck pain as well as numbness and tingling on her hands, feet and tongue. These symptoms also made it difficult for her to walk.

Assorted tests did not reveal her GBS diagnosis right away, and just a few days into her hospital stay she developed Bell’s Palsy which caused temporary paralysis of her facial muscles.

For nine days - a longer time than her honeymoon in Jamaica - Haly was a medical mystery in Geneva. Finally, her neurologists diagnosed GBS and she began IVIG treatments the next day.

She’s expected to make a full recovery after spending three weeks at Delnor, missing her new married life and her three-year-old son Oliver. 

As a well-respected coach, Haly coached herself to expedite her return home. She was transferred from Delnor to Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton where she participated in intense physical, occupational and speech therapies daily.

After being away from home for 35 days, Haly was finally discharged and returned home where she’s been overwhelmed with the love and support from her family and friends.

While no one expects one of their life’s greatest memories to be followed with such a scary, life-changing medical diagnosis, the Barkers have found that their love for each other has increased because of it. 

Because of her ongoing experience, Haly reminds people to embrace every single day of your life with love and kindness and to always appreciate your health and support systems.

After serving as a coach with the JV team, Haly joined Bohn on the varsity coaching staff last year.

“She is an exceptional coach,” Bohn said. “She has a wonderful eye and great contributions to our routines. The dancers look up to Haly and have so much respect for her. She brings a light and fun energy to our practice. It was a very difficult summer to not have our beloved Coach Haly with us. Her absence was felt greatly."

She’s on her way back and could be coaching again by October.

“We are so incredibly happy that Coach Haly is recovered and on her way back to health,” Bohn said. “We are so looking forward to her return to practices next month.”

St. Charles East is hosting Thursday’s festivities.

“We are excited to host Tri-City night,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “This is always one of the best nights of the year as it brings the community, clubs and local families together to support another family in need.”

Geneva coach Jason Bhatta is in his seventh season with the Vikings so the event pre-dates his arrival. Former Geneva soccer coach Ryan Estabrook explained the significance of the event to him and it’s something Bhatta looks forward to every season.

“It was in place before I took over and I know (St. Charles North coach) Eric (Willson) and (Batavia head coach) Mark (Gianfrancesco) and (St. Charles East coach) Vince (DiNuzzo), and even in talking to Ryan Estabrook, know the importance that’s put into this night, and not just in Geneva but all the Tri-Cities schools,” he said. “It’s been a real honor to carry it on. It gets the boys (fired) up and the gets up the crowd size, and since it moved to the crosstown rivalry games, it’s just been fun to have the big Geneva-Batavia game and St. Charles game on this night.”

Soccer, fundraising and fun

“The support for this night has kind of grown,” Bhatta said. “There’s face painting, soccer darts and some (other) cool things. It’s a fun event for all ages, which is cool and every year it’s impactful to help out and really cool that we’re able to help a family from one of the schools. It would be great if we didn’t have these tough spots in life, but when we do we can come together and raise awareness to a cause to help a family though it which is a really cool thing that soccer can bring together.”

Just a few days ago was the 10-year anniversary of the last time Batavia beat Geneva, as the Bulldogs received a pair of goals from Ian Larson during a 2-1 win at Burgess Field on Sept. 23, 2014.

Last year, the Vikings won 3-0 over the Bulldogs. Geneva is 6-0-4 in its past 10 games against the Bulldogs since losing in 2014.

Batavia (0-11-1, 0-3) has been shutout in three straight games while Geneva (6-3-1, 2-1) has won three straight.

The Bulldogs dropped a 3-0 DuKane Conference game to Wheaton North on Tuesday while Geneva defeated Glenbard North, 3-1.

“We started the season really well with some important players coming back,” Bhatta said. “We had some good success at JV levels so we’re really deep and that helped when we started out the year winning the Joe Novy tournament, but ten we had a rough week.”

The Vikings then dropped three straight.

“Injuries to Reese Leonard and Chase Marquardt played into our losses,” Bhatta said. “But we’ve been able to bounce back and get good wins against Bartlett, Glenbard North and Lake Park.”

Familiarity with opponents adds to the excitement of this yearly gathering.

“A lot of the kids play club together so a lot of the kids know each other or have heard of them,” Bhatta said. “They know the situation and makeup of the teams.”

Losing can get old real quick, but the Bulldogs keep battling despite it.

“The guys have been great; the morale has been great,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “Their work rate and effort has been awesome. If you watch them play you wouldn’t know they hadn’t won a game because they enjoy being around each other. There aren’t any issues with the team. They’re great guys.”

Among the losses Batavia has suffered are a couple collapses. They led Yorkville 3-0 and lost 4-3. They were on top of Lake Park by a couple goals, but ended up losing 8-3.

“You see the effort and hard work they put in and you feel so bad for them,” Gianfrancesco said. “It’s so draining and debilitating. As coaches, we’re putting in as much effort as they are. In a way, winning solves a lot of stuff, but consistently losing game after game it’s draining. We’ve met with them and told them we are feeling the same way as you are. Don’t think we aren’t agonizing as much as you guys are. We’re disappointed, upset and frustrated and in the same boat as you.”

The Bulldogs are pulling up four JV field players and a goalie for Thursday’s game due to low roster numbers. They’ve had some injuries and only returned one starter from last year.

“We’re basically like the JV team pushed up from last year,” Gianfrancesco said. “So we knew it was going to be a learning curve, but didn’t realize to this extent. It’s no excuse and we had some injuries and aren’t overly deep. We’re out a few starters so not being deep causes some issues as well.”

After winning a sectional in thrilling fashion against York late last October, St. Charles East has won only one time since, 3-0 over Downers Grove North on Sept. 12.

The Saints (1-8-2, 0-0-2) will take on St. Charles North (5-3-2, 1-0-2) after Batavia-Geneva battle.

The North Stars won both games against the Saints last season. The Saints won a 1-0 game in 2022.

The Saints tied Lake Park 2-2 on Tuesday while the North Stars earned a 1-1 draw against Wheaton Warrenville South.

The Saints have scored just 7 goals while the North Stars have surrendered only 8.

Oliver Longosz leads the North Stars with 4 goals while speedy Huxley Kapoor has scored 3 times for the Saints.