Wildcats edge Cougars to avenge earlier defeat to rivals

 

 

By Curt Herron

After one rival loses to another in a match that it believes it could have won, you can bet they'll look to even things up in a rematch.

When a rematch happens shortly after the first meeting, it's clear that memories of the earlier contest will still be fresh on the minds.

And even if the second match doesn't carry the same weight as the initial one, getting revenge is sweet when it involves a good rivalry.

Such was the case in Saturday's consolation bracket of the Lemont Cup between Plainfield South and Plainfield Central.

On April 25, the Cougars rallied to claim a 3-2 overtime victory over the Wildcats in the original District 202 series.

With a trip to the tournament's consolation finals as a reward, Central seemed far more focused on just beating South.

A goal from a player who recently was called up to the varsity was the difference as the Wildcats claimed a 1-0 victory.

Haley McLain connected shortly after the break to send Central to the consolation finals, where it played to a 1-1 draw with Andrew.

The earlier loss to the Cougars did more than just provide inspiration for coach Ken Schoen's squad in Saturday's rematch.

It provided a perfect late-season spark for the Wildcats (7-11-2), who have played better and posted a 3-1-1 mark since that defeat.

"The girls did want it and I thought from the outset that we looked like the better team," Schoen said. "But I think that first game was the turning point in our season. It was an awful feeling since we felt that we game that game away.

"You could go either way after that game but we decided to get better from it. We started playing well and have been building on it. We started changing some things after that game. Maddie Conroy, who got hurt today, went to center back.

"Deanna Dicristina had been out for awhile but she played well at center mid today. She did a good job of distributing and was a physical presence in the middle.

"We also moved Sami Jensen to center back in the Romeoville game and she's really helped to stabilize things in the back. And Paige Fuller has been a workhorse all over the place."

Another varsity newcomer, Emily Harmon, has also made a quick impression and stepped in when Conroy got injured on Saturday.

"We brought Emily up against Oswego East and thought that maybe we'd have to use her some in the heat or to sub people in and out but she ended up playing 40 or 50 minutes in that game," Schoen said.

"We've been using her a lot and she's the first one off the bench and has been aggressive and does a nice job at center mid. But when Maddie went down in the first half, Emily went to center back and did a real nice job there."

This was the fifth shutout of the year for the Wildcats, but three have those have been recorded in the last seven matches.

Keeper Tiffany Lenza was supported by outside backs Angie Menefree and Lisa Schroeder and center backs Jensen, Conroy and Harmon.

"We were up on them in our last game but came away with the loss so we came out with a fire today because we wanted to win," Schroeder said. "We were a little tired from last night because it was a late game so I'm glad we pulled through.

"We've been getting better in our past few games and things are starting to really come together for us. We have talent on our team but we've had trouble finishing. But last week we started scoring some goals and things came together.

"We're a super-close team that has team dinners before every game. We just care so much about each other and I think that drives our fire because we hate to see other peoples' hard work be for nothing. We have amazing heart on this team."

Following a scoreless opening half, McLain, who was only playing in her second varsity match, connected for the match-winner.

In the consolation match with Andrew, the Wildcats got a goal from Paige Fuller, who also scored in Friday's 3-1 loss to Sandburg.

"On our winning goal, we got a nice ball from the right side to the far post and Haley, who we just pulled up for the tournament, made a nice run and got to the ball and buried it right inside the near post," Schoen said.

The new-look Wildcats are a welcome sight for Jensen, who was happy to move from forward to defense to help out the squad.

"The last time we played, we were starting to do better, and since then we've been going uphill," Jensen said. "We've been connecting on passes, going forward with the ball and finishing. We're more confident and I'm proud of us.

"It's always a good rivalry between us two so it's nice to beat them. We're finishing our season stronger than we started it. I like playing in the back because I can see the whole field and communicate with everyone on the team.

"We have a lot of talent on our team, but we started out young and took us awhile to mature and become a mature team but it finally hit us. We're putting our talent to work now and I think we'll finish our season off well now."

In the first meeting, the Cougars were able to overcame a 2-0 halftime deficit to force extra play, during which they prevailed.

But South (8-5-2) was missing a few too many regulars on Saturday to be able to mount a second comeback against their rivals.

The Cougars did manage a goal from Kailyn Haski against Lincoln-Way East, but yielded two late scores to drop a 2-1 decision.

"After we won an emotional game in overtime in conference, we knew that they would be ready," Cougars coach Dave Brown said. "The goal we gave up is very fixable from our standpoint while we didn't put our chances away.

"We were playing today with four or five starters out due to various reasons and that didn't help us. But we brought some girls up from the younger team and took a look at them and everybody worked hard today.

"We knew that girls would have to step up like Abby Banks in the middle of the field, Alex Goff playing a little out of position in the middle of the field, both battled and didn't come out of the game and Kailyn worked hard up top.

"We gave up a goal on a mental lapse, it wasn't like we were significantly out-played today and it could have gone either way. They had one or two good chances and put one in and we had one or two good chances and didn't put them in."

Central hosts Oswego and plays at Addison Trail while South has road matches against Providence Catholic and Minooka this week.