Cougars edge Wolves on penalties in SPC opener

By Curt Herron

 

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Tuesday's Southwest Prairie Conference match between Plainfield South and Oswego East definitely featured some dramatic moments during its 100-plus minute span.

But the drama that helped lead to the lengthy encounter in Oswego also turned the contest from being a thriller to merely a good learning lesson for both sides.

After allowing a score during the opening minute, South eventually built up a 3-1 advantage and held it with less than five minutes remaining in regulation play.

However, East came alive once more and scored twice to force overtime, and then following two 10-minute periods of extra play, attempted to prevail in penalties.

The Cougars got the last say, though, on the seventh round of attempts when they persevered by a 5-4 margin to pull out a hard-earned 4-3 win over the Wolves.

Needless to say, neither squad was thrilled about how things unfolded during various streches of the fray and the winners weren't much happier than the losers.

There were some positives, though, for both sides. South's Rodrigo Garcia had another two-goal showing and keeper Tyler Olsen blocked two PKs in the shootout.

And East keeper Sean Phetchanpheng stopped a PK in regulation, came out of the net late to score two goals and made a kick save in penalties to cap his debut.

But the Cougars won't forget about letting a two-goal lead slip away while the Wolves would like to forget about a span of over an hour without a shot on goal.

"You've got to give credit to their side since Oswego East fought and clawed in the last five minutes and they got chances and had guys in the right place to finish them," South coach Dave Brown said. "But this may not be a bad experience in the end for us early in the year.

"The last five minutes was probably a team mistake from the coaching staff to the players where we all got a little too casual and just didn't execute. We talked about how in this game as soon as you let off the gas a little bit, it always finds a way to jump up and bite you.

"I'm glad with the way that we responded in the overtimes and shootout, but you never want to lose a two-goal lead late in the game. But we're still learning how to finish games and we can take a page out of East's book and see that it's never over until the last whistle."

While both are in a similar position due to losses of key players from a year ago, South (3-1, 1-0) has won three straight while East (0-2-1, 0-1) is winless.

Compounding matters for the Wolves is the fact that their keepers are needed in the field, Danny Madrigal on defense and Phetchanpheng along the forward line.

In addition, returning all-conference senior Danny Ruiz, who's been on the varsity since he was a freshman, is still out for coach Steve Szymanski's squad.

"After we scored quickly, South came out with better energy," Szymanski said. "Coming back late definitely shows a lot about our character. We knew we had to pull Sean since our best offensive opportunities were in the net and he created things and was dangerous.

"We got that quick goal and I almost think that it hurt us because we got complacent since I think our guys thought it was going to come easy. But all of our conference games are tough, especially this year where there's no favorite and anyone can win it.

"Our biggest problem right now is that we don't have a set goalie. Our best forward played goal for most of the game and our best defender came in for him. It just stinks when they have to be off of the field since they can both help us out in so many ways."

In the penalties, the two squads made three tries among their initial five attempts. South made its next two kicks before East was denied in round seven.

South got goals from Miguel Espinoza, Michael Decker and Garcia among the first five competitors before Cesar Bautista and finally Parker Gallt connected.

East's PKs were provided by Alex Torres, Madrigal and Cooper Fell in the opening group of five and Oscar Martinez kept the hosts alive in the next round.

Olsen dove to stop the Wolves' first effort and then punched away their final attempt. In between those tries, another kick deflected off of the crossbar.

"Near the end we started underestimating our opponents and let them get right by us and that got us down," Olsen said. "they kept battling and that's one of the lessons that we can learn from today that a game's not over and you have to keep pushing.

"We definitely reacted after they scored their first goal and started pushing harder and playing our game. We started talking to each other and moving the ball correctly. This was a big win for us since one of our goals is to compete for conference."

While Phetchanpheng made a kick save in the PKs and two saves on a penalty in regulation, his biggest contribution came in a 33-minute stint at forward.

After handing over the keeping duties to Madrigal in the 67th minute, the sophomore began to cause havoc for South, especially in the last few minutes.

East pulled to within 3-2 in the 76th minute after Torres sent a pass inside to Nathaniel Paisley, whose try toward the net was put in by Phetchanpheng.

After South threatened on a corner kick by Espinoza that Bautista sent toward the net but was deflected away by Noel Zepeda, the Wolves evened things.

On a counterattack in the 79th minute, Phetchanpheng got free and connected from close range, pulling the hosts even, although South threatened again.

Garcia had a shot deflected by Madrigal with about a minute left and an attempt by Anthony Skrip bounced off the keeper following an Espinoza corner.

After an uneventful initial overtime, Madrigal made a diving save on a Garcia try while David Hernandez was denied by Olsen to assure the penalties.

"We all tried really hard to come back," Phetchanpheng said. "When I came onto the field was excited to go straight to the goal since we were down 3-1. I was running on pure adrenaline trying to get those goals.

"You could see that everyone was getting tired in the overtimes and we really couldn't do much since things were going slow. We're still a brand new team so it's going to take us some time to get used to each other."

Following a 1-1 first half featuring limited chances by both sides, the final 40 minutes of regulation saw plenty of oohs and aahs, mainly from South.

In the 42nd minute, Manny Sanchez sent a pass inside that Skrip went up for to head. A foul was called in the box, resulting in a Skrip penalty kick.

The senior co-captain fired a try which Phetchanpheng deflected and Skrip alertly went for the rebound, but the Wolves keeper once again made a save.

South kept the pressure up with a Garcia free kick on goal and then Garcia sent a pass inside to Decker, whose header deflected off of the crossbar.

Garcia dribbled the ball past defenders and placed an attempt that just found the lower corner of the net to put South ahead 2-1 in the 55th minute.

Shortly after the half's midpoint, Espinoza lined a corner kick that was deflected and then he sent in a free kick that Phetchanpheng punched away.

East finally broke its hour-long shot on goal drought in the 65th minute when Olsen hauled in a liner from the side that originated from Hernandez.

Shortly after Szymanski made his keeper switch, South made it 3-1 in the 68th minute when Skrip was tripped up in the box and Sanchez made the PK.

Madrigal made a nice deflection on a 1 v 1 by Garcia a bit later and then he stopped a try by Nick Holland to set the stage for the late comeback.

The hosts connected just 18 seconds into the match when Torres sent a pass inside to Hernandez, who made a short try to give East its only lead.

South evened things up in the 24th minute on its first good opportunity when Garcia got free on the side and was able to connect from close range.

The Cougars host Joliet West and Ottawa over the next two days while the Wolves travel to Downers Grove South on Thursday in the Red Devil Cup.