Boys Soccer: Colin Hasty, Geneva battle back, play to tie with Wheaton Warrenville South

WHEATON – Colin Hasty is putting everything he has into his final varsity soccer season.

Hasty, a Geneva senior defender, tore three ligaments in his right ankle prior to the start of last season. While he did return after missing more than half the season, Hasty then battled a concussion and a left ankle sprain in an injury-plagued junior season.

“Last season was definitely rocky,” Hasty said following Geneva’s 1-1 tie with Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday. “So, I’ve just been putting my all into this season.”

Chase Kedzior struck first for the Tigers (2-3-3, 0-1-1) Tuesday to break a stalemate with 25:39 remaining in the second half. Hasty and the Vikings (3-1-6, 0-0-2), though, were able to answer back after Hasty headed in a set piece off of a corner kick.

Hasty played center back last year but transitioned over to left back by virtue of depth emerging in the middle.

“Physically, I feel like I [am] a little more faster. As a center back, you kind of need to be a little taller [and] sturdy instead of just quick,” Hasty said. “I like being able to combine with my midfielder and make runs down the field. That was pretty much my main shift.”

“He’s been great. He’s an athlete, which helps,” Vikings coach Jason Bhatta said. “He’s big, strong and he can run the width of the field. We’re asking him to kind of do some different things that as an outside back that maybe he’s not used to, but he’s been doing good to help us build out of the back.”

Hasty and Bennett Nippert are proving to be a reliable combination.

“When we have [them in], [Hatsty] gives us a lot of athleticism,” Bhatta said. “Bennett is ridiculously fast, so I think that’s why we’ve been pretty solid in the back because we’ve been hard to get through.”

The challenge now for Geneva is converting ties into victories. Tuesday marked as the Vikings’ sixth tie, including a stretch from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6, where they tied four consecutive times.

“We’re just not dangerous enough up front right now,” Bhatta said. “We’re not giving Trent [Giansanti] enough options off that. Our movement is not great. We have some goals, but they’ve been off set pieces. At least we’re taking advantage there, but I think overall in the run of play, we’re just not putting ourselves in dangerous [scoring] opportunities. We’re not making the runs and doing the things we need to do. Today, I feel a draw is a fair result.”

The Tigers entered Tuesday coming off three losses in which they were outscored 9-1.

“I think it’s kind of just based on teams that we’ve played,” Kedzior said of the team goal scoring struggles. “First couple games were against teams that aren’t in conference and aren’t as [strong] as teams we’ve played [like St. Charles North and Geneva]. I think we just got used to playing at a lower level and couldn’t bring it up to what we needed to.

“I thought we played really well getting up for the ball and dropping it right back for a shot, which is what we try to do more often.”