Cougars allow first goal, suffer initial defeat at Oswego

 

 

By Steve Nemeth

Soccer is another of those sports where the ball sometimes doesn’t bounce in one’s favor.

Monday’s early season meeting between undefeated Southwest Prairie Conference teams was a perfect example.

Unfortunately for Plainfield South, it was not the side that benefited from the bounce as host Oswego got an early strike and then held on for a 1-0 victory.

Playing with the wind in their favor, the Panthers went on the attack from the opening whistle and the aggressive effort produced a free kick for Oswego’s Lisa Dano.

While Plainfield South goalie Tabby Oritz correctly sized up the shot as being high, what the Cougar keeper didn’t count on was the ball ricocheting perfectly in favor of Kaylan Mills for a nine-yard boot inside the right post.

“Their keeper was off center and the right side (of the net) was completely open, so I just had to poke it in,” explained Mills in regard to what became her third goal of the year and second match-winner.

It was also only the first goal given up by Plainfield South’s defense as the Cougars had outscored their opposition 12-0 in three previous contests.

Ortiz finished the contest with eight saves and chalked up three defensive clears by beating Panther attackers to the ball.

Unfortunately for South, the lone goal allowed now leaves the squad with a 3-1 overall mark and 1-1 SPC ledger.

Oswego improved to 5-0 and 2-0 while having outscored its five foes by a 9-1 count.

“We've got a lot of games to play, so I don't think it will make or break our season,” South coach David Brown said. “This was our very first game on grass and I think it slowed us down a bit in adjusting.

“Not meant as a slight to our previous opponents, but give Oswego credit because they’re a good ballclub and probably the first of several really tough foes we’ll be facing.”

The Panthers were also the fourth straight road foe for South which makes its home debut Friday with another SPC contest against Oswego East before hitting two additional away matches.

“Coming off three matches on turf (fields), we didn’t adjust as well as we should have,” Cougar senior Mayra Flores admitted.

“We weren’t quite used to the width of the field today and the wind didn’t help us in making better touches.”

That’s not to say the Cougars didn’t have their opportunities. While Oswego finished with match advantages of 15-8 for overall shots and 9-5 for on-goal tries, Plainfield South had the upper hand for the final 40 minutes.

The Cougars were up 5-4 in total attempts and 4-3 when it came to on-frame shots.

Alex Truhlar, South’s scoring leader with six goals, had a solid free kick caught by Oswego goalie Amy Annala with 16 minutes remaining.

Teammate Lexus Rose had a strong blast eight minutes later that was also smothered by the Panther netminder.

Plainfield South nearly got the equalizer with two minutes left in regulation when Abby Banks took dead aim on a direct kick that Annala tipped just over the crossbar.

On the ensuing corner kick, Annala managed to snare the ball out of the air while surrounded by Cougars.

“We put one away early and I wish we would have put away some others, but we did a nice job protecting that one goal,” noted Oswego coach Jamie Bartkowiak.

“Plainfield South gave us a really good game, so being able to start 2-0 in the conference should be a big confidence booster for us. I think our having given up one goal now in five matches is an indication of a real team effort on our part.”