Spartans pleased with efforts against 3A sides

By Curt Herron

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With five matches spaced out over the course of six days, this turned out to be the busiest week of the season for Plainfield South.

And midway through the stretch, it had the potential of being a week to forget after the Cougars went 0-2-1 through Wednesday's play.

Following a weather-shortened draw against Marmion, South fell in overtime to Plainfield East and then lost 6-0 to St. Charles East.

With only one way to go following that trio of disappointments, the Cougars responded to make a positive of what had been a negative.

After beating Belvidere on Thursday, South ended action in the St. Charles East Tournament in the fifth-place match with St. Francis.

A goal in the early going set the tone for the Cougars, who claimed a 2-0 win over the Spartans on a windy and cold Saturday morning.

South (10-4-2) has only five matches left in the regular season, including just one this week, when it entertains Oswego on Tuesday.

Four of those are against Southwest Prairie Conference teams. The Cougars and Oswego are 2-1, behind 2-0 Romeoville and 3-1 Minooka.

The Cougars won eight straight to help them to an 8-1 start but had struggled, going 0-3-2 prior to picking up the two recent wins.

Anthony Skrip got Saturday's first goal, off a corner kick from Miguel Espinoza, who later connected following an Adam Burt assist.

Tyler Olsen got the shutout with sweeper Michael Santillo, stopper Dominic Nirchi and outside backs Ben Graunke and Carlos Arechiga.

"We were in survival mode this week with five games in six days," Cougars coach Dave Brown said. "We played well at times and obviously had one game that we'd like to forget about where I don't think we were there mentally or physically.

"So it was good to end the week with a victory on a Saturday morning on a windy day like this. I liked the way that we came out and scored early in the game and for the most part, really limited their chances for the entire 80 minutes.

"We talked about finishing the week on a good note today. We have five games, including four of which are conference games. And in our conference right now, every game is like an elimination game. So we're looking at one game at a time."

For a squad that had scored just eight times in its initial eight matches this month, moving in front in the early stages was huge.

That quick strike came in the second minute when Espinoza sent a corner in to Skrip, who deflected a try off a defender for a goal.

Shortly after Olsen halted a shot from Brian Cochrane, South took a 2-0 lead after creating a nice combination in the 23rd minute.

Burt started the sequence with a pass inside and Espinoza finished on the close-range effort to conclude the scoring in the match.

"We started out the week with some tough games, losing 2-1 in double overtime and then 6-0 on Wednesday," Burt said. "But we came out here and took care of business in our last couple of games.

"We had a good warmup today and used each other on the outsides a lot and kept the ball moving, even with the winds. We started out good and then held strong, although we only scored two goals.

"After taking care of business at the end of this week, we know that we have four conference matches left and all of those should be good matches."

The Cougars threatened again a bit later with a try by Burt that was deflected by keeper Bobby Rozner and two wide Skrip attempts.

After a corner from Espinoza was punched away, Remi Mifsud directed a corner kick to Joe Denny, whose header went wide of the mark.

The Spartans (6-6), who defeated Glenbard North 1-0 on Thursday, had a variety of good chances during the final 40 minutes of play.

That was an encouraging sign for coach Kristin Keigley, who liked her Class 2A squad battled during the week against Class 3A sides.

St. Francis lost 3-2 to Plainfield Central in a match contested on both Monday and Tuesday before falling 2-0 to Elgin on Wednesday.

"As I told the boys, within the last two or three weeks, this was one of the most active games that we've had in terms of chances," Keigley said. "Our midfielders and forwards were working together after being separate the last few weeks.

"We keep telling them that even though we may not come out on top against these Class 3A teams, we're playing with them and doing positive things which will help us when we play teams like Wheaton Academy and Marmion in our conference.

"Timmy Pisarski stepped up big for us today since our normal center back was out of town. Matt Bonner and Remi Mifsud were doing a very good job of connecting with the midfield and Jake Miller has been getting it done wherever we put him."

The sides exchanged opportunities to start the final half, beginning with a liner from Manny Sanchez and a wide try by Matt Bonner.

A pair of efforts from Skrip were then thwarted, and answered each time by attempts from Jake Miller which were hauled in by Olsen.

Just past the second half's midpoint, Cochrane was denied, Denny went wide of the mark and Mifsud saw a shot stopped by the keeper.

Down the stretch, Skrip was stopped by Rozner before Graunke cleared a shot from Mifsud and Olsen then snuffed a shot from Bonner.

While South now prepares for a competitive Southwest Prairie race, St. Francis does the same in the Suburban Christian Conference.

The 3-0 Spartans have a busy week of SCC play, hosting Guerin on Tuesday before playing at St. Edward and Marian Central Catholic.

Marmion is 4-0 and Wheaton Academy is off to a 3-0 start in the league. St. Francis will meet up with those two squads next week.