Plainfield Central ultimately lost in a shootout to Oswego East on Thursday, but scarce blame could be aimed at keeper Janna Pascente and her back line.

The Wildcats kept the Southwest Prairie Conference game scoreless through 100 minutes of soccer against a spirited Wolves’ attack in Oswego.

“It was for sure a lot of defensive play today,” Wildcats’ defender Lauren Kulaga said. “It was a defensive game but our defense pushed through it. We talked, got through it, and we played really well today.”

Kulaga was in the middle of things, along with keeper Pascente and fellow defenders Melissa Del Sarto, Lisa Schroeder, and Britney Lenza. After two overtimes the scoreless tie went to a shootout. The teams tied after the first round of kicks before Oswego East won with a sudden death kick in the second round.

Late in the second overtime period, Plainfield Central (4-7, 1-3 in SPC play) saw Wolves’ keeper Theresa Grandenitti make a pair of nice saves to send the game to a shootout.

“I think for the most part, for the game, Oswego East probably outplayed us today,” Plainfield Central coach Ken Schoen said. “We had a few chances during the game but we didn’t take advantage of them. We didn’t have too many, but we had a couple that could have gone in.”

A Wildcats team that has gone scoreless in five games this year will be getting last year’s leading scorer back on the field soon. Bailey Wysocki’s looming return figures to help the Wildcats put a few more shots on frame.

“We lost on a goal in the 99th minute to Plainfield South, and here we went 100 minutes and couldn’t get a goal. So goal-scoring has been a problem,” Schoen said. “We’ll work (Wysocki) in slow and try to get her ready for the end of the year.”

“We’re looking forward to having her back,” Kulaga said of Wysocki. “We’ll be needing her. Once she comes back it will push a lot more to get goals.”

Pascente has developed into a solid goalkeeper for the Wildcats this year. After the Wildcats lost their starting goalkeeper to start the season, Schoen called on Pascente to fill the need.

“She has improved a ton and she kept us in the game today,” Schoen said. “She was outstanding today and she had a real good game in our last game (a 3-0 win over Providence Catholic). She’s working hard and it’s showing.”

Kulaga played a whale of a game in back on Thursday, and she also applauded Pascente’s play. “She’s getting better and better every day. We’re extremely proud of her,” Kulaga said. “She did really well coming off her line today.”

 “We played as hard as we could today, and we kept it out of the net.”

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