Plainfield North takes care of business
Tigers post a Senior Night shutout, stay atop SPC
By Steve Nemeth
PLAINFIELD -- One might think a shutout win, maintaining the undefeated pursuit of a conference title plus a Senior Night triumph would elicit a lot of hugs and high fives.
All of the above did happened, but they occurred without much fanfare from host Plainfield North.
The Tigers – ranked no. 13 in this week’s Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 – chalked up a 3-0 Southwest Prairie Conference win over Plainfield Central on Monday.
There is another home game on the regular season schedule and Plainfield North serves as an IHSA Class 3A regional site, so the post-game talk was pretty subdued.
“All of those things are true and important, but there really is a different feeling on the team this year. We’ve got three conference games in a row we need to take one at a time, regional games here, so it’s not time to really celebrate,” senior midfielder Kendyl Keay explained. “Actually, we’re pretty confident and focused on going far in the (IHSA) tournament, so we really don’t think like the season’s close to ending anytime soon.”
Hence the reason more comments centered on the first half offensive drought and missed finishes rather than the thrill of victory.
Senior midfielder Reyse Stirrett added: “We need to be stronger on offense, get our rhythm going for all the games left.”
And from senior goalkeeper Emma Veselsky: “Every year, everybody in the conference is out to beat us, tonight was showing them -- and other teams -- how consistent we are at playing to win.”
Jane Crowe broke down the game from her coaching perspective.
“Getting the win is the ultimate goal," she said. "But the reality is we struggled to finish in the first half, had so many chances in the second half that still went unfinished.”
No wonder Plainfield Central (8-10-0, 2-2-0) started the second half with such vigor after battling Plainfield North to a 0-0 halftime draw. Despite being fresh from a 4-0 road loss to Bartlett, the visiting Wildcats came in with five wins in their last seven matches and did their part in keeping the Tigers from getting quality opportunities.
“Thought we played really well for the first 18 minutes of the second half, had a lot of possessions. I can’t fault our effort tonight,” Plainfield Central coach Ken Schoen said. “We made some mistakes and, as is typical against a good team, they’ll make you pay for those mistakes.”
Just minutes after intermission, a Plainfield Central service into the box required Veselsky to make her first save. Two minutes later, the senior goalie rushed out to capture the ball ahead of a Wildcats attack. Off an overlapping run, Katie Kearney blasted a 15-yarder from the right that necessitated another stop by Veselsky.
Plainfield North (10-5-2, 4-0-0) finally answered the wake-up call with an its own attack after 47 minutes.
Molly Grant made a run from the left wing and booted a ball that Plainfield Central goalkeeper Sophia Tuliglowski blocked right back at her. Grant took what looked like a successful chip shot, but defender Kate Rukujzo made a defensive clear off the line with a header. Grant got the ball again and forced Tuliglowski to make another save.
Next it was the Tigers’ Sam Elster putting an attempt on goal only to be denied.
Then Tuliglowski raced out beyond the box to possess a through-ball in front of Raven Withaar and then faked to get past the Plainfield North senior.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the continued pressure led to a goal when Megan Breier’s cross set up Keay for the first of her 2 goals. The two finishes made Keay an obvious choice for Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honors.
“It was extremely gratifying to have 2 goals especially since we struggled in that first half,” Keay said. “My teammates deserve credit for very good passes. It is exciting to win a Senior Night game, but it’s more important to us that we continue to keep grounded until the job is done. We want our eighth-consecutive conference title.”
That trek coninues Wednesday at Minooka, Thursday at Romeoville and concludes on May 10 at home against Oswego.
Midway through the second half, Plainfield Central’s Erin Graefen angled goalward from the right and unleashed a cannon volley that Veselsky tipped over the goal to preserve the lead. The Tigers took back possession on the ensuing corner kick.
With 15:31 left in regulation, Grant earned an assist when she found Brittaney Kroll in position on the left side for a 16-yard grounder that appeared to take a bad hop on Tuliglowski and ended up in the net.
Two minutes later, the active goalie dived to get a fist on a Withaar bullet from the right off a fastbreak. A couple more Tiger shots were off the mark.
Pushing hard to cut the deficit, Plainfield Central got a solid cross that Graefen headed sharply only to have Veselsky snare the ball.
As time was winding down, Plainfield North's Emily DeVaux made an overlapping run up the right side and spotted Keay on the opposite side in position for a nine-yard rocket that whizzed past the Wildcat goalie with 17 seconds left on the clock.
Plainfield Central coach Schoen saw things to praise from his club's work.
“Despite the score, I believe Chloe White and the rest of our backline (Jessica Schroeder, Rukujzo, and Tiana Etienne) played well,” Schoen said. “I couldn’t possibly ask more from Erin (Graefen). One second she was making a play on the right and the next instant she’s on the left as if we cloned her. Actually wish we could do that. Abbey (Mikrut) also did a fantastic job for us, her work rate is always high.”
Whitewashes continue to mount in favor of Plainfield North. Veselsky broke the Tiger career record early in the year. The team has eight shutouts this season.
“Getting the win is always the most important thing, but the shutouts are an additional goal," Veselsky said. "In close games, I do glance at the clock during the second half of second halves. But really I’m more concerned with playing smart and that we stay strong defensively. We’ve done that a lot and plan to do it a lot more.”
Stirret concluded: “It was important to get a Senior Night win after our last two games (losses to New Trier and Naperville Central). So ending the game on a good note should give us more confidence moving forward.”
Starting line-ups
Plainfield Central
GK: Sophia Tuliglowski
D: Jessica Schroeder
D: Kate Rukujzo
D: Chloe White
D: Tiana Etienne
M: Katie Kearney
M: Abbey Mikrut
M: Alyssa Marroquin
M: Nina Guitron
F: Erin Graefen
F: Amanda Arnold
Plainfield North
GK: Emma Veselsky
D: Megan Pertile
D: Dana O’Boye
D: Emily DeVaux
D: Kaitlyn Mauder
M: Raven Withaar
M: Kendyl Keay
M: Reyse Stirrett
M: Megan Breier
F: Sam Elster
F: Molly Grant
MVP of the Match: Kendyl Keay, MF, Plainfield North
Referees: Dave Holbrook, Justin O’Bryan, Gary Williams
Game summary
Plainfield North 3, Plainfield Central 0
Plainfield Central 0 0 ---- 0
Plainfield North 0 3 ---- 3
Scoring
PN --- Keay 13-yard blast from left side off goalie’s hand (Breier assist), 52nd minute
PN --- Kroll 17 yard left of center bad-hop grounder inside left post (Grant assist), 65th minute
PN --- Keay 9-yard rocket from left side (DeVaux assist), 80th minute
Shots
PC 1 – 6 ---- 7
PN 10 – 13 ---- 23
Shots on goal
PC 0 – 4 ---- 4
PN 4 – 10 ---- 14
Saves (player)
PC (Tuliglowski) 4 – 6 (Rukujzo 1) ---- 11
PN (Veselsky) 0 – 4 ---- 4
Tigers post a Senior Night shutout, stay atop SPC
By Steve Nemeth
PLAINFIELD -- One might think a shutout win, maintaining the undefeated pursuit of a conference title plus a Senior Night triumph would elicit a lot of hugs and high fives.
All of the above did happened, but they occurred without much fanfare from host Plainfield North.
The Tigers – ranked no. 13 in this week’s Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 – chalked up a 3-0 Southwest Prairie Conference win over Plainfield Central on Monday.
There is another home game on the regular season schedule and Plainfield North serves as an IHSA Class 3A regional site, so the post-game talk was pretty subdued.
“All of those things are true and important, but there really is a different feeling on the team this year. We’ve got three conference games in a row we need to take one at a time, regional games here, so it’s not time to really celebrate,” senior midfielder Kendyl Keay explained. “Actually, we’re pretty confident and focused on going far in the (IHSA) tournament, so we really don’t think like the season’s close to ending anytime soon.”
Hence the reason more comments centered on the first half offensive drought and missed finishes rather than the thrill of victory.
Senior midfielder Reyse Stirrett added: “We need to be stronger on offense, get our rhythm going for all the games left.”
And from senior goalkeeper Emma Veselsky: “Every year, everybody in the conference is out to beat us, tonight was showing them -- and other teams -- how consistent we are at playing to win.”
Jane Crowe broke down the game from her coaching perspective.
“Getting the win is the ultimate goal," she said. "But the reality is we struggled to finish in the first half, had so many chances in the second half that still went unfinished.”
No wonder Plainfield Central (8-10-0, 2-2-0) started the second half with such vigor after battling Plainfield North to a 0-0 halftime draw. Despite being fresh from a 4-0 road loss to Bartlett, the visiting Wildcats came in with five wins in their last seven matches and did their part in keeping the Tigers from getting quality opportunities.
“Thought we played really well for the first 18 minutes of the second half, had a lot of possessions. I can’t fault our effort tonight,” Plainfield Central coach Ken Schoen said. “We made some mistakes and, as is typical against a good team, they’ll make you pay for those mistakes.”
Just minutes after intermission, a Plainfield Central service into the box required Veselsky to make her first save. Two minutes later, the senior goalie rushed out to capture the ball ahead of a Wildcats attack. Off an overlapping run, Katie Kearney blasted a 15-yarder from the right that necessitated another stop by Veselsky.
Plainfield North (10-5-2, 4-0-0) finally answered the wake-up call with an its own attack after 47 minutes.
Molly Grant made a run from the left wing and booted a ball that Plainfield Central goalkeeper Sophia Tuliglowski blocked right back at her. Grant took what looked like a successful chip shot, but defender Kate Rukujzo made a defensive clear off the line with a header. Grant got the ball again and forced Tuliglowski to make another save.
Next it was the Tigers’ Sam Elster putting an attempt on goal only to be denied.
Then Tuliglowski raced out beyond the box to possess a through-ball in front of Raven Withaar and then faked to get past the Plainfield North senior.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the continued pressure led to a goal when Megan Breier’s cross set up Keay for the first of her 2 goals. The two finishes made Keay an obvious choice for Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honors.
“It was extremely gratifying to have 2 goals especially since we struggled in that first half,” Keay said. “My teammates deserve credit for very good passes. It is exciting to win a Senior Night game, but it’s more important to us that we continue to keep grounded until the job is done. We want our eighth-consecutive conference title.”
That trek coninues Wednesday at Minooka, Thursday at Romeoville and concludes on May 10 at home against Oswego.
Midway through the second half, Plainfield Central’s Erin Graefen angled goalward from the right and unleashed a cannon volley that Veselsky tipped over the goal to preserve the lead. The Tigers took back possession on the ensuing corner kick.
With 15:31 left in regulation, Grant earned an assist when she found Brittaney Kroll in position on the left side for a 16-yard grounder that appeared to take a bad hop on Tuliglowski and ended up in the net.
Two minutes later, the active goalie dived to get a fist on a Withaar bullet from the right off a fastbreak. A couple more Tiger shots were off the mark.
Pushing hard to cut the deficit, Plainfield Central got a solid cross that Graefen headed sharply only to have Veselsky snare the ball.
As time was winding down, Plainfield North's Emily DeVaux made an overlapping run up the right side and spotted Keay on the opposite side in position for a nine-yard rocket that whizzed past the Wildcat goalie with 17 seconds left on the clock.
Plainfield Central coach Schoen saw things to praise from his club's work.
“Despite the score, I believe Chloe White and the rest of our backline (Jessica Schroeder, Rukujzo, and Tiana Etienne) played well,” Schoen said. “I couldn’t possibly ask more from Erin (Graefen). One second she was making a play on the right and the next instant she’s on the left as if we cloned her. Actually wish we could do that. Abbey (Mikrut) also did a fantastic job for us, her work rate is always high.”
Whitewashes continue to mount in favor of Plainfield North. Veselsky broke the Tiger career record early in the year. The team has eight shutouts this season.
“Getting the win is always the most important thing, but the shutouts are an additional goal," Veselsky said. "In close games, I do glance at the clock during the second half of second halves. But really I’m more concerned with playing smart and that we stay strong defensively. We’ve done that a lot and plan to do it a lot more.”
Stirret concluded: “It was important to get a Senior Night win after our last two games (losses to New Trier and Naperville Central). So ending the game on a good note should give us more confidence moving forward.”
Starting line-ups
Plainfield Central
GK: Sophia Tuliglowski
D: Jessica Schroeder
D: Kate Rukujzo
D: Chloe White
D: Tiana Etienne
M: Katie Kearney
M: Abbey Mikrut
M: Alyssa Marroquin
M: Nina Guitron
F: Erin Graefen
F: Amanda Arnold
Plainfield North
GK: Emma Veselsky
D: Megan Pertile
D: Dana O’Boye
D: Emily DeVaux
D: Kaitlyn Mauder
M: Raven Withaar
M: Kendyl Keay
M: Reyse Stirrett
M: Megan Breier
F: Sam Elster
F: Molly Grant
MVP of the Match: Kendyl Keay, MF, Plainfield North
Referees: Dave Holbrook, Justin O’Bryan, Gary Williams
Game summary
Plainfield North 3, Plainfield Central 0
Plainfield Central 0 0 ---- 0
Plainfield North 0 3 ---- 3
Scoring
PN --- Keay 13-yard blast from left side off goalie’s hand (Breier assist), 52nd minute
PN --- Kroll 17 yard left of center bad-hop grounder inside left post (Grant assist), 65th minute
PN --- Keay 9-yard rocket from left side (DeVaux assist), 80th minute
Shots
PC 1 – 6 ---- 7
PN 10 – 13 ---- 23
Shots on goal
PC 0 – 4 ---- 4
PN 4 – 10 ---- 14
Saves (player)
PC (Tuliglowski) 4 – 6 (Rukujzo 1) ---- 11
PN (Veselsky) 0 – 4 ---- 4