Rashid leads Wildcats to win over North
By Bill Scheibe

CLICK HERE FOR PLAINFIELD CENTRAL'S TEAM PAGE

Even though the Plainfield Central roster lists senior Mohamad Rashid as a defender, his forward progress was a thorn for the Plainfield North side in Monday’s Southwest Prairie Conference matchup.

It also is one of the recent moves that has come up all roses for Wildcats coach Kevin Fitzgerald, who smiled afterward and kidded the media when asked about what position he prefers Rashid to play.

Goalkeeper, huh?

“He plays everywhere,” Fitzgerald said. “He has been a defender, and he hasn’t played goalie … yet.”

And yet, as a forward, Rashid proved to be a keeper against host Plainfield North. He tallied a goal and two assists as Plainfield Central jumped to a 3-0 halftime lead with the wind en route to an easy 5-0 win.

After setting up goals by junior forward Miguel Sanchez and junior midfielder Sam Espinal, Rashid netted an unassisted score with 3:07 remaining for the 3-0 advantage in pacing Plainfield Central (7-7-1, 1-1).

The Wildcats, who are 4-1 in their last five games with three shutouts, added an unassisted goal by junior midfielder Miguel Duran and a beautiful header by senior defender Billy Ballentine in the second half. Senior defender Dan Rosenbaum assisted via a long thrown-in toward the near-side left post.

With Ballentine and Rosenbaum as his central defenders and seniors Nick Belom and Mike Giocolo guarding the wings, senior goalkeeper Tyler Badertscher (3 saves) recorded his fourth shutout of the season. And the Wildcats ended up overwhelming Plainfield North (3-6-3, 0-3), wind or without.

“It’s nice to score early,” Fitzgerald said. “It relaxes everybody and it puts everybody at ease. Our defense was pretty solid and North is a pretty decent team. The score turns out lopsided, but I think that’s because we got breaks and a couple of our chances went in and their chances didn’t go in.”

“I have to give them credit,” Plainfield North coach Jim O’Hara said. “They played better than us and they deserved the victory. Anybody watching the game could see they were the better team today and the score definitely resembled it. The biggest thing for us right now is that we lack the confidence.”

Certainly, September will not go down as a month to remember for the Tigers, mired in a 0-5-3 run. Plainfield Central pounced, gaining edges in shots (26-11), shots on goal (13-3) and corner kicks (8-0).

“If you look at the last five or six games, we’re giving up the first goal, then the second goal and we’re going down 2-0,” O’Hara said. “A 2-0 lead is tough to come back on. Can you do it? Absolutely. But you put yourself in a rough spot, especially against a good, disciplined, well-coached team like Central.”

Pretty would be another adjective to describe the Wildcats, who went ahead 1-0 with 24:25 left in the first half as Sanchez flicked Rashid’s pass from the right flank over the head of senior goalkeeper Aaron Dunn (6 saves). It showed the chemistry that exists between Rashid and Sanchez up top in the 4-4-2.

“It feels great to get the first goal,” Sanchez said. “It picks up the intensity and it picks up the players more. You don’t get down anymore. We’re coming back together as a team and it feels great.”

“He holds the ball well for us,” Fitzgerald said of Rashid. “He and Miguel both hold the ball pretty well and Miguel plays off of Mohamad so well. It’s good. And it’s nice to get that first one with the wind.”

Two more followed for the Wildcats, with Rashid crossing a pass toward the far-right post that Espinal converted in the upper corner on a header at 18:07 to go. Rashid then stole an errant Tigers’ clearance attempt and rolled a seeing-eye shot into the far-right corner with 3:07 remaining for the 3-0 lead.

You might guess Rashid would have been happier about the goal. You would be wrong.

“I like passing the ball more because it helps the team,” Rashid said. “I’m not really a forward, but I always talk to Miguel when I get the ball and I’m always looking for him because he’s always open. We practice it and it feels better when you can do those things in the games. And we scored three goals.”

“That’s like half the goal right there,” Sanchez said. “Without his pass, I wouldn’t have scored the goal.”

After Duran netted his goal with a one-touch volley over the on-rushing Dunn, Ballentine closed the Wildcats’ scoring with a back-header of Rosenbaum’s throw-in that spun into the near-side left corner.

“Normally, I look to set up my teammates,” Ballentine said. “That’s my job on the throw. I’m just the target player, but you get enough reps in that position, you know that one of them might slip in. It did.

“My main goal, as captain of the defense, is to help my goalkeeper and to get the shutout. Things are really coming together for us, but we can’t be complacent and we have to keep on moving forward.”

Defensively, in Plainfield North’s effort to stymie the Wildcats’ forwards, the Tigers received non-goalie saves from junior defender Sam Puglisi and sophomore midfielder Jordan Schure, both on corner kicks.

“The last month has all been ties and losses, ties and losses,” O’Hara said. “We haven’t been able to catch a break, pick up a victory and gain some momentum or gain some confidence. We need that.”

What Plainfield Central needed, the Wildcats got: strong play on the back end, ball possession through the midfield and stellar striking up top, particularly with the artistic combination of Sanchez and Rashid.

And pretty does help.

“It does,” Rashid said. “We were finishing some nice balls, scored some nice goals, and that’s always good. When you do that, it pushes the pace of the game and everybody wants to play harder to score.”