ST. CHARLES — Working hard and not getting results stinks.

Once again Batavia battled but had nothing to show for it in a 6-1 loss to Geneva during the opening match of the annual Tri-Cities Night celebration Thursday at St. Charles East.

“It was 2-1 with (30) minutes left,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “(Geneva’s) a good team. We just want to compete, and for the most part we did until the last 20 minutes or so giving some goals up. 

“We had a freshman (Peyton Charlett start) in goal in the second half so that’s about it. Another game down, and we move onto next week. We’ve got (St. Charles) East next week (Oct. 1), so it’ll be good to watch these guys (in the following game) and see how they’re playing and see what we can do for next week. 

“We’ll hopefully get some guys back healthy and kind of start building up a bit and build for the playoffs.”

Batavia (0-12-1, 0-4-0) went scoreless in its previous three games but put one away in the eighth minute to pull even at 1-1. 

Gabriel Diaz found Gregory Bell who lofted a shot over Geneva’s 6-foot-5 goalkeeper Tommy Rowoldt. It was the quick response the Bulldogs were seeking after yielding a goal to Caleb Kelly three minutes earlier.

“We had a little mistake in the back that was probably all of our faults,” Alexander Graham said of the game-tying goal. “We lost the ball. It is what it is and we just had to come back and score right away.”
    
Geneva allowed Batavia eight minutes to celebrate its first goal since a 4-1 loss to St. Charles North on Sept. 17. The Vikings pulled ahead 2-1 when Graham found space deep and Ben Murphy set him up for the go-ahead goal.

While the Bulldogs yielded the go-ahead goal with just under 25 minutes still remaining in the first half, it was the only score over the course of the next 35 minutes.

“We got a little bit of fire after we scored,” Bulldogs senior defender Matthew Vrba said. “For the rest of the first half we held good, and we had good defense. It just kind of fell apart toward the end. But from that part of the first half until halfway through the second half, the match was good.”

Graham sent a header into the back of the net off of a Murphy throw-in to end the lengthy scoreless stretch with 29:47 remaining in the second half to make it 2-1 at halftime.

“It was a little sloppy in the beginning, and I think the key was us not being aggressive and taking too many touches on the ball,” Graham said. “When we picked up our heads and just looked through the midfield and fed it through, then looked over the top, it was there every time for us. When we move the ball quickly there are not many teams that can stop us.”

About 15 minutes later, Kelly matched Graham with his second goal of the game, dribbling in the box before firing it home for a 4-1 lead with 14:12 remaining.

Evan Reynolds and Payton Friedman added goals in the final 10 minutes for the Vikings. 

Murphy assisted on both of them to finish with five on the game. That is believed to have established a new school record for assists in a game, according to coach Jason Bhatta, who spoke to former coach Ryan Estabrook who took over the program in 2004. The 13-year former coach said he doesn't recall a Geneva player having five assists in a game.

“It was a bit of a rocky start, obviously, up one in the first half,” Murphy said. “We’re a good team this year, and I thought we should’ve been up more. We were able to come back with more energy in the second half and able to get it done which made me very happy.”

The Vikings they can be difficult to stop.

“I think once we start scoring, we just keep doing that because we have that confidence,” Murphy said. “We are really like, I feel, a nervous team until we get those first few goals. Then we can relax. We have so many good players. Once we play relaxed, we’re one of the best teams out there.”

Bhatta did not approve of his Vikings allowing the Bulldogs to hang around for as long as they did. 

“I wasn’t happy with the first half. The boys know that wasn’t our level, especially when we scored early. Then we just got complacent,” he said. “When you play (Batavia) kids that you grew up playing with, they’re a little too comfortable. They think they know what they’re going to come up against. 

“For the second half, we talked about some tweaks we could do in terms of getting the ball through the middle of the field a little more instead of looking for direct over the top all the time. 

“Murphy found really good spots. He had five assists, which is crazy. We were able to play more through them in the second half and be more dangerous.”

Batavia continues to fight on, looking for a breakthrough.

“Were they competing? Were they playing? I thought they were,” Gianfrancesco said. “I didn’t think they quit. They kept playing, competing and that’s what we’re asking them to do. 

“Even with putting a freshman goalie in at the end they kept competing. They could’ve been like ‘Aw, jeez, what are we going to do?’”

Vrba said he and his mates are putting in the effort.

“The results don’t always show exactly how you’re playing,” he explained. “We got guys working their (butts) off every single day. Working hard in practice, working hard in games; results aren’t coming but as long as we’re working hard, we’re going to be fighting until the end of the season. 

“Sports teach you to keep fighting. It’s all about how you respond to it. There are so many important lessons you can learn from sports.”

On Tri-Cities Night, everyone learns there are far more important battles than winning soccer games. 

This year’s beneficiary, Haly Barker, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare condition that causes nerve damage.

The assistant coach of the St. Charles East dance team was diagnosed shortly after returning home from her honeymoon.

After numerous tests and lengthy stays at Delnor Hospital in Geneva and Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, Barker is recovering and hopes to return to coaching next month.

Everyone who helped her and her family by playing, attending and supporting this event helped make Tri-Cities Night another for the community.

“Tri-Cities Night is a big night to represent soccer,” Vrba said. “While football (gets the most attention), Tri-Cities Night is soccer’s night to show these towns what we’ve got, and it’s a big community of support.”

With packed stands, food trucks, raffles, halftime and games pairing the prep players of tomorrow and more, it’s become the biggest event during the regular-season for these programs.

“It’s a different atmosphere than at any of the other games. It’s awesome,” Murphy said. “I love that all the cities get to come together and stuff. 

“It makes me so happy that we can all come out, all three cities, and benefit a family. It’s just great that soccer can bring us all together like that.”

As juniors, Murphy and Graham, already are thinking about having the honor of playing in another Tri-Cities Night next year. 

“I’m only going to do this twice,” Graham said. “This is the first year on varsity for most of us so we only get one more year of this, but it’s always a blast.”

Geneva (7-4-1, 3-1-0) saw its four-match win streak end in a 2-1 nonconference home loss to Elk Grove.

 
Starting lineups

Geneva
GK: Tommy Rowoldt
D: Alexis Ramirez
D: Jack Hatton
D: Jackson Raby
MF: Peyton Friedman
MF: Xavier Ebert
MF: Reece Leonard
MF: Max Śliwa
MF: Alexander Graham
MF: Ben Murphy
F: Caleb Kelly

Batavia
GK: Teagan Carlson
D; James Sauvageau
D: Corey McPencow
D: Ethan Prints
D: Matthew Vrba
MF: Hudson Legut
MF: Evan Hashem
F: Connor Verde
F: Gregory Bell
F: Gabriel Diaz
F: Jack Holzi

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ben Murphy, jr., MF, Geneva

Scoring summary

First half
G: Caleb Kelly (Ben Murphy), 5’
B: Gregory Bell (Gabriel Diaz), 8’
G: Alexander Graham (Ben Murphy), 16’

Second half
G: Alexander Graham (unassisted), 51’
G: Caleb Kelly (Ben Murphy), 66’
G: Evan Reynolds (Ben Murphy), 71’
G: Peyton Friedman (Ben Murphy), 75’