Geneva's Holbrook expects to play in 2A title game

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What fifth-seeded Geneva did in defeating one of the top teams in the state as well as the No. 1 seed in its sectional in Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday was impressive enough.

Doing it without one of its offensive leaders and top scorers in Brian Holbrook for a half makes it all that more impressive and adds an additional chapter to an already historic season.

Holbrook tweaked his right knee in practice earlier this week and thought he would be fine to play in the Vikings eventual 2-1 victory in the Wheaton Academy sectional semifinal against the Tigers.

"It just started hurting," Holbrook said. "I was sprinting on it and it just starting hurting bad. I don't know how I hurt it. I just thought I'd play through it."

After taking it easy in practice, Holbrook thought he would be healthy enough for him to play Tuesday night. His knee even got to the point where Holbrook was placed in the starting lineup.

The knee lasted all of five minutes before another tweak.

"I could hardly run," Holbrook said. "It was hurting really bad."

Holbrook had to come out of the game and spent the rest of the first half alternating between trying to run on the sidelines in pain and lying on the ground with a trainer trying to work on the knee.

With Holbrook out, the Vikings had to adjust their rotation and move outside midfielder Dan Miller to the middle and midfielder Trevor Cunningham to striker to compensate for the loss of Holbrook.

Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said he was happy with how his team responded to the adjustment.

"We didn't play our normal style," Estabrook said. "Brian gives us great composure and so much effort up front but I thought we did a nice job there without him."

Holbrook returned to action in the second half and said his knee responded favorably.

That ability to adjust on the fly is one of the major strengths of this Vikings team, which rides a 15-game winning streak into tonight's sectional final match against Wheaton Academy.

Since making major adjustments to the rotation after the first third of the season, when the Vikings were a shocking 3-5-2, Geneva has been nearly unstoppable and has lived up to preseason expectations that it would be one of the top teams in the state.

"We have so many versatile guys we knew we would be able to adjust," said midfielder Shawn Sloan of Holbrook's absence on Tuesday.

Holbrook, a major cog in Geneva's turnaround with his improved play at forward, is expected to be in the lineup and play against Wheaton Academy tonight.

"Even if it hurts, I don't care," Holbrook said. "I'll be out there no matter what."

jsahly@scn1.com

Class AA Wheaton Academy Boys Soccer Sectional