St. Charles North has last-second shot called off as regular season finale against Geneva ends in 1-1 draw

GENEVA – The regular-season finale between St. Charles North and Geneva on Oct. 15 ended just about how everybody expected.

In complete chaos.

With only 10 seconds remaining in the match, the North Stars forced a corner kick that went straight into the box and to the feet of Diego Torres, whose shot was saved by Vikings keeper Tommy Rowoldt.

A scrum for the ball ensued with time slowly winding down. When the clock hit zero, Casey Kriz had knocked the ball into the back of the net and St. Charles North players were celebrating a last-second goal to take down Geneva.

The head referee, however, said the ball didn’t go into the goal until after time had expired. With the refs’ decision being final, St. Charles North and Geneva settled for a 1-1 draw.

“I was standing at midfield looking at it, so obviously I’m a little biased,” St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. “On our end, we feel like we scored, but it wasn’t the call and we’ve got to live with that.”

Despite not having the final call go his team’s way, Willson still thought it was a great, but chaotic way to end the regular season.

“It was a classic Geneva versus St. Charles North game that had a lot of hard work from both sides and also some emotion,” Willson said. “It’s always fun to be a part of and I think we got each other as ready for the postseason as we can because that certainly felt like a playoff atmosphere.”

Besides the final minute of play, the second half mostly was controlled by Geneva, which entered the second half down 1-0. The Vikings got out on offense quickly and managed to get a score when Reece Leonard sent a through ball to Ben Murphy, who knocked the ball over the goalie to tie the match at 1-1 only five minutes into the half.

“He’s doing a lot for us right now and he creates a lot on his own, but also he can make a play and help others, too,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “Reece played a great ball through and he got on the other end of it. We were knocking on the door forever, so it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get one more to get the win.”

Bhatta said the Vikings played well against a team it might see in the postseason.

“Unfortunately we kind of gifted them with a goal in the first half, which basically was just us shooting ourselves in the foot,” Bhatta said. “But they fought back and we gave ourselves plenty of chances to score. We’ve just got to clean up some sloppy situations and deal with set pieces because those final seconds were crazy.”

St. Charles North got on the board first only seven minutes into the game. After a Geneva defender fell with the ball at his feet, Nolan Schoenholz scooped up the ball for a one-on-one with Rowoldt. Schoenholz won by finding the top part of the net to put the North Stars up 1-0.

“In a game against a really quality opponent like Geneva, it was important for us to get out early with a lead and change the way the game was being played,” Willson said. “Nolan worked his butt off in the game. That finish he had was excellent and we can always count on him to be working really hard for us and he added a little bit of extra quality for us in the game.”