Two late goals doom Blackhawks in season opener
By Gary Larsen

Plainfield South senior goalkeeper Taylor Schwebke doesn’t wear her emotions on her sleeve, but after her fourth save of a point-blank shot on Friday, she allowed herself a fist pump or two that may have fueled a fire.

Visiting West Aurora held a 1-0 second-half lead on the host Cougars and Schwebke kept it that way until her team fought back for a 2-1 win in a season-opener for both sides.

“She’s quiet and subtle and I haven’t seen emotion like that from her,” Cougars coach Kevin Allen said. “She was so excited after that save and I think that lifted the team. She doesn’t express her emotion and just does everything we ask her to do, but when she showed that emotion it fueled the team.

“That’s what we expect out of a senior and she pulled some saves out of nowhere. I’m glad she’s got three years of experience to fall back on.”

When an offensive player gets behind her defense and is bearing down on her, all Schwebke does is listen to that little voice...

“I just talk to myself in my head, to sneak out as much as I can and as soon as they look down, get set and try to cut the angle, or if they take that prep touch to come out,” Schwebke said. “But I do talk to myself in my head, and go over what I’ve been taught.”

Reilly Kulakowski converted a penalty kick for West Aurora (0-1) in the final minute before halftime, while Ashley Boros and Lexus Rose scored goals in the game’s final 10 minutes for Plainfield South (1-0).

When it was over, West Aurora coach Laura Wagley stood shaking her head.

“Their keeper made a couple of awesome saves so props to her, but when you’re wide open, one-on-one with the keeper, you have to finish that,” Wagley said. “If they just finished their open shots, we’re fine. I told them that we can’t win a game 1-0. We have to finish those two or three breakaways we had, and we’re fine.”

West Aurora tested Schwebke from distance several times through 40 minutes, with Sam O’Brien sending in a shot from 20-plus yards out and Jessica Saffell sending in several shots from distance throughout the first half.

Saffell was taken down in the penalty area 47 seconds before halftime, and Kulakowski converted a second-chance PK. Her initial attempt went wide but the official whistled Schwebke for leaving her line, and Kulakowski buried the second chance.

Wagley liked what she saw from her side in the first half. West Aurora’s game plan changed drastically when Daniela Bueno had to slide from midfield to the back line when defender Abriya Zeitz left the game with an ankle injury, but Tori Raines put in a fine day’s work in chasing South’s Alex Truhlar all over the field.

“(Truhlar) had two goals on us last year (in a 3-2 South victory) so we wanted to stop her,” Wagley said. “We put Tori on her and she did a very good job. In the first half we were very aggressive, won almost every ball in the middle, I thought we were faster, and we were able to shut down (Truhlar).”

Raines’ goal against Truhlar was simply to remain pesky.  “I just had to stay on her and try to make sure she didn’t get any balls,” Raines said. “I just shadowed her.  I had to stay annoying.”

Plainfield South’s first shot of the game came 20 minutes in, when Kailyn Haski fired a shot that was saved at the near post. Ashley McClendon South’s Ashley McClendon crossed a ball from deep on the right side to the far post, just beyond Haski’s reach a few minutes later, and the Cougars’ Ashley Taylor nearly buried a rebound shot at 32 minutes but her shot from in-close flew just wide of the post.

“We were panicked in the first half, anxious to play our first game and we just played nervous,” Allen said. “We were much more controlled and composed in the second half.”

“You could tell it was the first game for both teams and I couldn’t be more proud of the way the girls battled back. Especially after the first half. There was no need to panic after the PK and we just had to deal with it. The team that bounces back from its mistakes quickly will be successful, and we did that.”

Schwebke turned O’Brien and Saffell away during her heroic stretch of saves and the game turned at 72 minutes when Truhlar took a free kick near the touchline on the right side, deep in Blackhawks’ territory. The ball found its way to the left side, where South’s Alayna Stepanovsky fired a shot from 20-plus yards out to the goalmouth, where it was deflected to the ground.

Boros located the ball at the post and buried it to give the Cougars their first goal of the season.

Schwebke admitted afterwards to not knowing a whole lot about teammate and freshman Lexus Rose when the season began, but the senior keeper was impressed with the shot Rose took at 76 minutes.

With less than four minutes to play, Rose hit a left-footed beauty from 20 yards out that found the upper ninety to win the game. “She’s good and I’m glad she’s here,” Schwebke said of Rose.

Allen also applauded the play of central defender Abby Banks on Friday.

“Abby is a very good player and she’s a problem-solver,” Allen said. “She can cover some ground, she’s a smart player, and it’s wonderful to have her back there. And her vision of the game – she’s one step ahead of everybody.

“It was a good first game to find out what we’re made of. I couldn’t be happier with the way we started.”