Porters fall to Tigers in Pepsi Showdown quarterfinals

By Curt Herron

 

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If you don't give up any goals, it's probably going to be real tough for the other squad to defeat you.

And that's the approach that Plainfield North has employed with great success during the past few weeks.

While the Tigers have demonstrated a knack for putting the ball into the net, they also realize that keeping it out of their goal is critical.

That's especially the case when it comes against tougher competition, as North has seen during its last two matches in the Pepsi Showdown.

Following a 2-0 win over Lyons Township in Thursday's round of 16 clash, the Tigers posted a similar victory in Saturday's quarterfinals.

Playing against a Lockport squad that was also enjoying a nice win streak, North took control with an early goal and also scored in the late going.

Heather Handwork collected both goals while Callie O'Donnell handed out an assist on the first score and Paige Polonus posted the shutout in the net.

With the 2-0 victory at Schaumburg's Olympic Park, the second-seeded Tigers (10-1-1) move on to next Saturday's semifinals, which are at the same site.

They'll face sixth-seed Lake Forest (8-2-1), which handed third-seed Elk Grove its first defeat when it captured a 2-1 overtime victory on Saturday.

The Tigers have won nine straight matches during which time they've allowed just one goal. That run has been capped by seven consecutive shutouts.

"We can score a lot of goals, but we're not going to score a ton of goals against good teams," Tigers coach Jane Crowe said. "We scored two goals each today and on Thursday against good teams. If we score two goals it's great if we can keep them from scoring so our focus has been shutting other teams out.

"We've had a nice string of shutouts in a row. Nikki Auble played great at left back today and helped to shut down their forwards a little bit. Shayna Dheel played on the other side while Anna O'Donnell, Brooke Polonus and Angie Dziedzic all played at center back and they're just doing a great job."

Beside the fact that her squad has been performing so well defensively, Crowe pointed to a couple of factors that could explain he tight decision.

"It's an adjustment because these fields are a little smaller, so it makes it a little bit tighter for both teams, who have to play the ball a little quicker," Crowe said. "And a bunch of our girls play against a bunch of their girls in club so that takes away a lot of advantages for either team since they know the other players so well.

"Callie had to play in the middle a little bit since we learned today that Ashley Auble is out and she came up big there. Also, it was huge for Heather to score the two goals and she's starting to come into her own. We already had two goal scorers in Ashley (Handwork) and Callie so it's nice to have that third one now.

"This wasn't the best or the prettiest game that we've played, but our effort was good and the end result was a win and a shutout. We did what we needed to do and we're excited about moving on to the semifinals. You don't get a lot of easy games in this tournament and that's why we're here, because we want to play good teams."

The eighth-seeded Porters (7-3) entered Saturday's play on a six-match winning streak after defeating Lake Zurich 2-1 on penalty kicks on Thursday.

But while he has been encouraged by his side's recent efforts, Porter coach Todd Elkei was disappointed about how they performed against the Tigers.

"It's probably our fault as coaches since we didn't convince the girls enough that they could play with teams like Plainfield North," Elkei said. "The girls came in thinking that they were playing against a better team and we were tentative the entire game, so coach Beal and I'll take the blame since we didn't get our kids ready to play.

"We're just as talented as they are but you can't make the mistakes that we were making, like giving the ball away when we're not pressured and not being aggressive to a ball which comes from being tentative. When you're playing good teams like them, they finish their opportunities. We just weren't dangerous and didn't create anything.

"When you're tentative against good teams, it's a bad mix. Plainfield North was aggressive and quick all over the place and they have some good athletes out there. If you're playing hard and play your best game and lose, that's acceptable. But when we don't give our best effort and come up on the short end, that's when we get upset."

Both coaches pointed to the performance of Porter keeper Cortney Jerzy, who came up with a series of big stops to keep her team in the match.

"I thought that Cortney did a nice job of keeping us in it," Elkei said. "Without her in goal, it could have been a little worse since she made some nice saves early and then a couple more late."

Heather Handwork took a pass from Callie O'Donnell connected about a quarter of an hour in for the only goal that the Tigers would ultimately need.

Although that was the 46th goal that the Tigers had scored in their last nine matches, they were headed toward a second straight tight contest.

Lockport had some first-half chances but tries by Jessica Liutkus and Lexi Cozzi were denied by Polonus and Julie Divito was wide on a free kick.

North kept the pressure up after the break with an attempt from Sara Stevens and a corner kick from Kaela Leskovar that were hauled in by Jerzy.

Shortly after Ally Brehm saw a good chance thwarted as Polonus came out of the net, Ashley Handwork had a shot deflected away by the Porter keeper.

A bit later, Brehm was driving toward the net on another scoring opportunity but Anna O'Donnell stepped in to deflect the ball and end the threat.

In the late going, Leskovar was denied on a short try but Heather Handwork got her second score on a nice attempt shortly before the final whistle.

"Our defense did a good job of keeping the ball out and not letting them get through balls," Heather Handwork said. "We know that we're not going to score a lot against tougher teams like Lockport. We didn't get many chances since the game was mostly played in the midfield.

"I think that this win should help us to gain just the right amount of confidence for the semifinals since we've shown in our last two games that we can beat tougher teams. We worked hard in order to win this game and I'm happy with how we're playing right now."

Both teams host conference matches on Tuesday before returning to the Pepsi Showdown. The Porters play Lincoln-Way East and the Tigers face Oswego.