Tigers bury DG North, ready for Plainfield Central
By Darryl Mellema

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By any definition, Plainfield North’s offense has gotten off to a superb start this season. Through six matches, the Tigers have scored 25 times. They have not been shut out. In the last three matches, Plainfield North has scored 19 times, including Monday’s 7-0 defeat of visiting Downers Grove North.

“It was good to get our offense going,” Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe said. “We knew we were capable of this. It just hadn’t happened yet.”

Plainfield North’s field showed the cut lines from having been mowed on Monday, but the grass was still far shaggier than most soccer pitches, and the ball held up on that surface. The result was that a number of balls that would have run out of play stayed inbounds and a number of passes that might normally have gotten away from players held up. The advantage in all this went to Plainfield North, which is used to these conditions.

“We know our field has long grass and we know we have to play the ball faster,” Plainfield North forward Callie O’Donnell said. “Our team is built with speed and that’s how we play and that’s how we did it today.”

Despite the lopsided final score, it took Plainfield North (4-1-1) 18 minutes to find the back of the net. Ashley Handwork scored that goal, the first of two she scored in the contest, when she sent a shot from the left side of the penalty area in off the right post.

“We all did well today,” Ashley Handwork said. “We had a bunch of people get goals today, and that was good for our offense.”

The Tigers showed their speed by twice breaking from a Downers Grove North corner kick to score. The first occasion was the second goal of the match. The ball, played quickly to O’Donnell in the center of the field, set a two-on-one with O’Donnell and Handwork racing toward the Downers Grove North goal. Handwork sent the final pass to O’Donnell, who scored the first of her two goals in the contest from close range.

“Our coach was saying that we are better on their corner kicks than on our corner kicks,” O’Donnell said.

The goals kept coming with two more inside 1 minute in the final quarter-hour of the first half. First Sara Stevens took a Kelsey Gill throw-in and rocketed it into the net. Just 44 seconds later, Kayla Leskovar sent a long, high shot that went over the Downers Grove North goalie and into the net.

That made the score 4-0 at halftime and the chances had almost all fallen to Plainfield North.

Ashley Handwork and O’Donnell are Plainfield North’s starting forwards. O’Donnell plays slightly withdrawn from Handwork, though the two interchange constantly. What the positioning allows is for freedom from both players. Handwork moves left and right to receive the ball while O’Donnell is free to move further back into the midfield to find the ball and also to use her speed to get forward to provide a frontline partner for Handwork.

“We have this new formation and it’s working really well for us.” Handwork said. “(O’Donnell) plays behind me and she normally sneaks up and because no one’s on her, no one knows what to do with her.”

The switch to a front target player and a withdrawn second forward came following the Tigers’ 2-1 loss to Naperville Central. The results have been solid since – a 2-2 tie with Wheaton Warrenville South, a 6-0 win over Plainfield East, a 6-1 win against Sandburg and Monday’s 7-0 victory over Downers Grove North.

“(O’Donnell’s) dropped in and they don’t know if they should mark her with a defender or a midfielder,” Crowe said. “That gives her a lot of freedom. I give the two of them a lot of freedom. They’re good enough players to be able to figure out what the defense has given them.”

Through Monday’s match, Plainfield North was quicker to the ball. The Tigers jumped in front of Downers Grove North players time and again, gaining possession in dangerous areas. As a result, the Trojans only rarely built an attack.

“We’ve talked a lot about winning the 50-50 balls,” Crowe said. “That’s another thing we didn’t do earlier in the year. These little things that we’ve worked on and talked about, those make the big difference.”

Plainfield North’s defense had moments where it had to step up. The first of these came five minutes into the second half when goalie Emily Brodict made a fine save. Brodict made a further shutout-preserving save with 4 minutes left. The third defensive highlight was Emma Smith’s goal line block of a shot with 8 minutes left in the second half. Those three interventions helped the Tigers record their third shutout of the season.

Offensively, the Tigers continued to pile the chances and goals. Within 2 minutes of Brodict’s early save in the second half. Plainfield North moved to a 5-0 lead when O’Donnell passed to Ashley Handwork, who scored.

A multi-player move 11 minutes into the half led to O’Donnell’s second goal and the Tigers’ sixth goal in the match. Ashley Handwork passed to Gill, who found O’Donnell free in the penalty area.

“You just hope that everybody around you gets a chance to score too,” O’Donnell said. “Putting two in was just great for me.”

Gill recorded her third assist of the match with just over 28 minutes to play when she fed Heather Handwork. At that point, the time remaining in the match was cut in half, Crowe removed most of her starters and the rest of the match ended without either team scoring.
Plainfield North’s next match is Thursday, a 4:30 p.m. home match with rival Plainfield Central.

“I think they’re pretty excited for it,” Crowe said. “That’s always a fun game. They know all those girls and I know they get up for that game and I know Plainfield Central’s going to be up for the game too. We talk about that it doesn’t matter who’s got what, it’s going to be a tough game.”