Youthful Tigers edge Porters to get off to 2-0 start

By Curt Herron

 

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Entering the season with a young squad that features only four seniors, Plainfield North coach Jim O'Hara naturally had concerns over how his Tigers would come out of the gates.

Two matches into the new campaign, it's been a case of so far so good for North after it hung on for a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Lockport on Friday in Plainfield.

Facing a Porter squad that was playing in their initial match, the Tigers kicked off play in Lemont's I-355 Invite two days after a 3-2 win over Illiana Christian in their debut.

Senior Andres Castellanos, who scored twice in the Illiana victory, found the net again on Friday, scoring in the 46th minute to account for the match's lone tally.

After that, it was up to the defense of seniors Zack Foust and Thomas DeVaux, sophomore Travis Foust, junior Sam Puglisi and freshman keeper Trevor Hansen to preserve the shutout.

Lockport, which rallied from a 4-1 deficit to force a 4-4 draw with the Tigers a year ago, kept the pressure up throughout the late going but couldn't find the equalizer.

"We lost a lot of leadership from last year, guys who were staples for this program," O'Hara said. "We only have four seniors on this team but we have a really good mix with a lot of young talent so it was good to see us play with composure and confidence.

"I have a lot of respect for Lockport since they have a very good program and every time that we play them it's a battle. Even though it was very hot out there and our guys were tired during the second half, our guys just kept going nonstop.

"No doubt about it, there's little stuff that we need to fix, but to get a shutout and to win a close game like this, you learn a lot about your team. Beside finding some things that we can take forward, this was a confidence builder for us."

The Tigers (2-0), who play at Lemont on Tuesday and at Lincoln-Way West the next day in the tournament, had representatives from each class in their starting eleven.

Beside the three seniors mentioned, there were four juniors, including Zack Foust's fellow captains, Tyler Petprachan and Garrett Gathman, who played in the midfield.

The Fousts weren't the only brothers on the field for North. Austin Hansen, also a freshman, joined keeper Trevor, and performed on the front line, along with Castellanos.

"We've had a really good start," Zack Foust said. "We have a junior-heavy roster (11 of 20 players) and a lot of those kids have been stepping up. We're playing as a complete team and I really like our teamwork and how we're moving the ball well.

"Usually it takes awhile to come together as a team but we're really prepared since we had some good summer training and our chemistry is good this year.

"A shutout is always a good thing and a 1-0 win is scary, especially after last year's game with Lockport. The thing I like the most about this team is that everyone picks each other up and we all have the will since we want to win."

Lockport (0-1) had most of the good chances in the opening half but was unable to capitalize. A missed penalty kick in the early going typified the Porters' frustration.

Once North got the wind at its back, it started to get more opportunities and the hosts made the most of the initial chance that they got after the break.

Castellanos beat a defender and then fired an attempt into the opposite side of the net to provide the Tigers with what ultimately proved to be the winner.

"Ever since the beginning of the season, we've been working really hard as a team," Castellanos said. "Everyone has been putting in the work and we go all out. I didn't do anything individually, it was a team effort and we got a good result.

"Our defense was amazing and our freshman goalie has been doing really well. Our three captains have been pushing us and we've all been pushing each other. Even though we have a young team, those guys know how to play and it's working out."

North kept the pressure up after its goal with Petprachan providing well-placed efforts on a variety of restarts to keep Porter keeper Christian Czaja on his toes.

After glancing a free kick off of the crossbar, Petprachan sent a corneer kick in front to Logan Wright, who slipped on his shot try, which was cleared by a defender.

Shortly after Castellanos was denied by Czaja from close range, Petprachan served up a corner kick to Zack Foust, whose header went a bit wide.

Lockport's Christian Cockburn began his second half challenges just before the half's midway mark when he was stopped by keeper Trevor Hansen.

Czaja followed with a kick save of a short try by Wright before Petprachan sent a header to the Porter keeper with about a quarter hour left.

Not long after a deflected shot by Cockburn was halted, Woijech Iwan got off an attempt from close range which was cleared away by Zack Foust.

In the final 10 minuutes, Trevor Hansen denied Cockburn, Jake Novacek had a shot stopped by Czaja and DeVaux cleared an Argenis Sanchez try.

Petprachan opened up the match with a corner kick and then later an attempt from the side, both of which were hauled in by the Porter keeper.

Shortly after Trevor Hansen stopped a header from Chris Monte, Cockburn was tripped up in the box but Mike McClaughlin's penalty rolled wide.

There weren't many good chances during the final 25 minutes of the opening half with Iwan and Wright both being denied on the best attempts.

"We know that there's going to be mistakes and bumps in the road but hopefully our guys will stay confident and positive," O'Hara said. "A lot of times if you hustle like we did today then you can kind of cover up on some errors.

"Zack and Thomas are both seniors and started almost every game for us last year. So they are guys that we'll rely on again this year. Their engines don't stop and they're quick and able to recover and I thought they were fantastic.

"When you've played two games, the best thing you can do is win them. Yes, there's things that we need to fix but since we have a very young team, we'll just keep growing and the game plan is for us to get better every day."