Spartans lose 3-2 to Plainfield Central
By Bill Stone

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Senior Mo Rashid and his Plainfield Central soccer teammates received plenty of time to reflect upon missed opportunities during the first 20 minutes of their game against St. Francis.

On Monday, repeated sightings of lightning in the vicinity forced the game to be postponed and resumed Tuesday, concluding the first round of the St. Charles East Tournament.

“On the bus we were talking about it. We had three open shots that we couldn’t finish,” Rashid said. “We didn’t want to let down because this is the first game in the (tournament).”

When Rashid scored on an open shot that he originally did not intend to take in the 37th minute, it proved to be the difference in the Wildcats’ 3-2 victory.

Junior Miguel Sanchez scored the other two goals for the Wildcats (5-4) in between a goal by Brett Jungles that put St. Francis (4-6-1) in front 1-0 and Remi Mifsud’s penalty kick that tied the game in the 31st minute.

Plainfield Central took the first step toward its second tournament title in the past three years. The eight-team format with two pools of round-robin play continues Wednesday and Friday. The corresponding pool finishers meet each other Saturday.

“Last year, we played the first game (of this tournament against St. Francis) and won 4-0,” Rashid said. “In the second game, we didn’t come ready to play, but this year we’re trying to win this tournament. We have to. We’re all seniors, there’s like nine on the team so we’re trying to make the best of it.”

The game was scoreless when it resumed Tuesday with 21 minutes, 50 seconds left in the first half. The other two 5 p.m. games Monday between Glenbard North and Elgin and Marmion and Plainfield South also were stopped, but, because of scheduling conflicts Tuesday among the teams, those games ended prematurely as 1-1 and 0-0 ties, respectively.

“(Plainfield Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald) said we kind of had a timeout so we were able to fix our mistakes from the beginning (Monday) because we had a few mistakes, but I thought we brought it together (today),” senior goalie Tyler Badertscher said.

For Tuesday, the teams played on a different soccer field at the other end of the school and with just two officials rather than three and no ball retrievers along the sidelines. One result was that Misfud’s penalty kick came on a delayed call about 20 seconds after the cross from left wing resulted in a handball in the box.

Rashid’s game-winning shot didn’t go as planned, either. When he trapped the ball about 30 yards out, he turned one way looking to distribute and then the other. He then went ahead and shot and managed to convert.

“I didn’t even know I was going to shoot. I just shot it. There was no other option so I just had to do that,” Rashid said.

“I was supposed to pass to someone. Miguel Sanchez and I like playing 1-2 wall passes, but when I turned around, I didn’t hear anybody call (for the ball) so I was like, ‘I’m not going to get rid of the ball for nothing,’ so I just shot it. My head was down and I just shot it.”

Only three minutes into Tuesday’s action, the Spartans struck first, thanks to a great effort by Mifsud. His corner kick was cleared out, but he quickly regained control of the ball. He faked a pass and then drove down the side of the box and blasted a shot saved by Badertscher and a rebound that was blocked.

The ball caromed to Jungles in the center of the box for the goal.

While Mifsud created several chances for the Spartans, Sanchez was doing the same for the Wildcats.

Four minutes after St. Francis scored, Sanchez got the equalizer when Rashid found Miguel Duran open down right wing and his cross found an open Sanchez, who quickly trapped, turned and shot.

Sanchez put the Wildcats ahead four minutes after that in the 27th minute. He intercepted a deep ball that the St. Francis defense was unable to clear and quickly converted a blast from 25 yards out.

“It was a lot better today (for us offensively). We had a lot of finishes, like Miguel Sanchez, who had two goals. They were beautiful,” Rashid said.

There were few scoring chances in the second half, but they were dramatic ones.

Just three minutes into the half, Mifsud made a nice run down right wing and cross to Michael Downs in the crease. Downs tapped the ball to Matt Bonner, who blasted a shot at the top of the box over the net.

Mifsud also nearly tied the game in the 62nd minute after he intercepted a pass between defenders and moved down right wing. Mifsud’s cross inside to a charging Bonner was at the back of his feet, but the ball got back to Mifsud.

Mifsud took a point-blank shot that Badertscher stopped and a rebound that Badertscher went up high to thwart.

“I don’t even know what I did there. I just dove and saved it,” Badertscher said. “I was blocked on the first shot so luckily the reactions got to me and I saved it. The second shot, I got right back up and saved the ball.”

Plainfield Central led 22-14 in shots (11-6 shots on goal). Both teams had seven corner kicks.

Mifsud and Sanchez each had eight shots. Sanchez nearly got his third goal with eight minutes left, but goalie Bobby Rozner handled the hard shot from left wing.

In the final moments, the Spartans only seriously threatened on a corner kick with two minutes left that was pushed out by Badertscher and eventually cleared by Duran.

“(St. Francis) worked the ball well and worked off of our mistakes that we had,” Badertscher said. “Luckily they didn’t get the goals that they needed but they did capitalize on our few mistakes that we had.”

The Wildcats hope to build off the momentum of the victory. They had lost two in a row and four of their last five. Tuesday marked the third time this season they had scored more than twice in a game.

The Spartans had won four in a row, allowing just two goals in that stretch. They previously had never allowed more than two goals in any game this season.

St. Francis took another difficult blow with five minutes left in the first half as interior defender Matt Shultz and outside defender Joe Denny collided in the air going for a headball. Both players walked off the field, but Shultz never returned while Denny played the entire second half. Senior co-captain Jake Miller moved from center midfield to replace Shultz.

In Wednesday’s pool play, Plainfield Central faces Glenbard North and St. Francis plays Elgin. On Thursday, Plainfield Central plays Elgin and St. Francis faces Glenbard North. All four games start at 5 p.m.

“Two years ago we won this tournament and last year we lost to (Glenbard North in pool play). We’re going to have to capitalize and do our best to win the tournament,” Badertscher said.