Tigers end regular season with a win at Metea Valley
By Anthony Zilis

Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe knows her team could have let up late in the Tigers' 2-1 win over Metea Valley on Thursday after the Mustangs tied the game with seven minutes left.

The game was of little importance on a broad scale, with the playoffs approaching and the conference races already decided, so each team could have been satisfied walking away with a draw.

But the Tigers (19-3) came back with energy and created several chances. Ashley Handwork finished off the win when she received a through pass from Tate Barney and scored her 34th goal of the season.

Two minutes into the contest, Kaela Leskovar played Handwork through on a breakaway and the senior slotted home the opener. Neither team had many chances early in a game that was shaping up as a midfield battle, but in the second half the game began to open up as players tired and the trickling rain picked up.

With just over nine minutes remaining in regulation, Metea Valley (9-6-1) knotted the game when Megan Morris played a short free kick and Rachel Warnock fired a shot that found the lower corner to tie the game.

Handwork ended the game with her heroics, scoring unassisted with two minutes left to play.

“I was happy coming back after giving up that goal,” Crowe said. “We could have, after giving up that goal to tie it, kind of folded, but we came back strong and had a couple of chances and finished one off.”

“I don't think it was the best game that we played, but it was a great battle. Both teams played very, very hard and had a lot of chances,” Crowe said. “It was kind of that game where it lacked a little bit of importance just because of where we're at in the season, going into the postseason, but I think it was an overall very good game.”

Most importantly, Crowe was able to test a few different tactics that they may have to use in the playoffs, including man-marking one opposing player and moving Heather Handwork to forward from her current spot in the midfield.

“We need to know what's going to work,” Crowe said. “I think that's kind of where we're at, too. They're experimenting, we're experimenting, and it’s kind of that last opportunity to try some things.”

After undergoing a stretch in which her team lost its only two games of the season in recent weeks, Crowe was happy with her team's ability to finish the regular season with a win against a tough team before the playoffs begin next week.

“We had a stretch where we weren't playing well, but we've turned things around,” Crowe said. “We had a tough game against Naperville North on Monday then here on Thursday, so it's always nice going into the post-season with a win.”

Both teams are part of this year’s Class 3A Bolingbrook Sectional. Second-seeded Plainfield North opens regional play on May 14 with a semifinal game against No. 15 East Aurora, at this year’s Oswego regional. The winner will play for a regional title against the winner between No. 7 Oswego and No. 11 Oswego East.

No. 6 Metea Valley hosts regional play and opens against No. 12 Plainfield Central on May 14, with the winner taking on the winner between No. 3 Waubonsie Valley and No. 14 Plainfield East.