Wildcats edge Joliet Central to snap losing streak
By Steve Millar
The dominance Plainfield Central exhibited over the first 27 minutes of the second half Wednesday night suddenly didn’t mean much when Joliet Central’s Yessica Reyes scored to tie the match 1-1 with 12:37 to go.
The setback certainly fired up the Wildcats’ Shawna Watson, who was determined to get a win for her team, which had suffered four straight losses entering the match.
“When we gave up the goal, inside of me I was just so hungry to score,” Watson said. “We really needed the win.”
Watson delivered with 6:24 left, stepping between two Joliet Central defenders to pick off a pass and quickly firing a shot past Steelwomen goalie Maria Guerrero for the game-winner as the Wildcats hung on for a 2-1 victory on a rainy night in Joliet.
“Our record might not show it, but we know we’re capable of doing good things,” Watson said. “We kind of played down below our level in the first half, but we were able to pick it up a lot in the second half.”
After an even first half ended in scoreless tie, the Wildcats (3-5-1) took charge after the break.
Plainfield Central spent the vast majority of the first 20 minutes of the second half on the attack, but Guerrero (7 saves) kept the shutout intact.
The shutout was finally broken when the Wildcats’ Jessica Munkvold’s pre-game premonition came true.
Munkvold is typically a defender. When the senior found out she was playing center midfielder Wednesday, she had a gut feeling it would be a memorable night.
“Before the game, she told me she was going to score her first goal,” Watson said. “I wasn’t so sure it would happen.”
It did happen, as Paige Fuller intercepted a clearing attempt and found Munkvold in the center of the box.
A lunging Guerrero got a big piece of Munkvold’s shot, but it slowly trickled over the goal line to give the Wildcats the lead with 16:33 to go.
“I took a touch and figured I better shoot it,” Munkvold said. (Guerrero) stopped it and then I saw it dribbling over and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, what’s happening?’ It felt so good.”
Wildcats coach Ken Schoen was impressed with his senior’s versatility.
“Jessica was out of her comfort zone a bit playing center midfield and she came through with a huge goal to get us off the snide,” he said.
“Jessie (Birchall) also did a great job for us at outside mid. This was maybe her fourth game starting at outside mid for us. She didn’t come out of the game at all (Tuesday) or at all (Wednesday). She’s really starting to understand the position.”
Joliet Central (4-6) capitalized on one of its lone second-half chances to draw even four minutes later as Kathia Arredondo hit Reyes with a short corner. Reyes, unmarked, dribbled into the box and scored on a laser.
“It was tough giving that up,” Schoen said. “I thought we’d be able to keep the clean sheet. Good thing we were able to get it back on a nice strike by Shawna.
“We definitely needed to stop the slide. We needed to put some balls into the net, too. Hopefully we can go from here and keep doing a better job of that going forward.”
Joliet Central had some strong chances early on as the Wildcats appeared to come out a bit flat.
The Steelwomen nearly got on the board in the 13th minute on a free kick from 30 yards out. Reyes played it short to Arredondo, who caught the Plainfield Central defense off-guard and was left wide open.
Arredondo’s shot was punched over the crossbar by leaping Wildcats goalie McKenna Young.
Arredondo had another chance moments later as Young came out of the goal but was beaten to the ball by Arredondo, who then shot just wide.
Plainfield Central’s best first-half chance came when Sami Jensen fired a shot that was saved by Guerrero with 16:22 left before the break.
“Maybe we took them for granted a bit,” Schoen said. “Maybe we thought it’d be an easy game. In the second half, we picked up our intensity and played with more urgency.
“(Joliet Central) played really well, though. Even though we probably had more possession, they had some dangerous opportunities. Credit to them. They definitely challenged us to our limit.”
The second-half effort was certainly encouraging for Schoen, who is seeing things starting to come together for his team.
“We’re still developing, but (Tuesday) we played definitely our best game of the year and lost 1-0 on a questionable penalty call against St. Ignatius,” he said. “Other than that, I thought we controlled possession against them and just couldn’t find the back of the net.
“I guess you could say we’re going through some growing pains, but we’re showing signs of breaking out of it. I’m confident that we’ll be able to put it together.”
The Wildcats are scheduled to play their third match in as many days Thursday against Maine South, and Munkvold said they’ll go into that contest feeling good about themselves.
“We’re going to go into the match (Thursday) thinking we’re definitely going to win,” she said. “I have a better attitude towards (Thursday). Our mentality is definitely going to be better. (Tuesday), it felt like (Wednesday) was just going to be another day.”
