Tigers' SPC dominance continues vs. Oswego East

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By Paul LaTour

Plainfield North has a slight variation to the slogan the Chicago Blackhawks have used over the past two seasons.

Whereas the Hawks’ talk of One Goal, the Tigers prefer No Goals. As in, the Tigers do not want to allow a goal in Southwest Prairie Conference play this season.

So far so good for the Tigers, who downed Oswego East 5-0 on Thursday in Oswego. The Tigers (13-2-2, 5-0 SPC) have outscored their SPC rivals 27-0 this season while extending their conference winning streak to 19 games.

Junior Ashley Auble scored twice and Callie O’Donnell, Katie Cox and Ashley Handwork each added goals. All but Handwork’s goal came in the opening half as the Tigers took control early and kept the pressure on throughout the half.

“One of our goals was to shut them out, and to make sure we play well together,” said Auble, who had her first multiple-goal game of the season. “We wanted to score and not let down.”

They executed that plan to perfection. O’Donnell scored in the third minute, taking a pass from Handwork about 25 yards out before splitting four defenders with a burst of speed up the middle.

“That first goal was huge,” Tigers coach Jane Crowe said. “Just to score in the first three minutes makes everything easier after that. Sometimes when it takes a while to get that first goal, it gets harder and harder and harder (to score).

“Getting that first one allowed us settle down and play our game. And we followed it up with a couple more.”

The next one nearly came five minutes later, but Wolves defender Victoria Pecci was able to clear the ball out of danger after freshman keeper Hannah Gargrave was drawn from the goal.

Eventually the Tigers were able to break through again. O’Donnell set up the goal with a cross from the left side that found Cox for a header in front, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead with 16:19 left in the half.

Cox then earned an assist on Auble’s first goal on a free kick from just outside the penalty area to the left of Gargrave. Cox lofted the ball into the middle where Auble got her head on it for a 3-0 lead at 9:37.

About five minutes later O’Donnell was taken down from behind in the penalty area and the Tigers were rewarded with a penalty kick. Auble deposited it in the goal with a low shot to the right of Gargrave, who made five of her six saves in the first half.

With a commanding 4-0 lead in tow, the Tigers had only one thing left to do in the second half -- keep the host Wolves off the scoreboard.

But the Wolves (10-6-1, 3-3) came out charging, thanks to the change in field position that gave them the wind at their backs. An early corner kick opportunity resulted in the Wolves’ first shot on goal, a 15-yarder from Brenna Risch stopped by Paige Polonus, who replaced Emily Brodict for the second half.

However, the Wolves didn’t manage many quality opportunities after that, though Polonus did finish with three saves. Brodict didn’t have to make any in the first half as the Wolves struggled to keep the ball in their attacking third.

“We knew it was going to be a challenging game -- Plainfield North is a very skilled team,” Wolves coach Lauren Anderson said. “In the second half we came out and played a little more of our game.”

In particular, Anderson pointed to the play of junior Carli Schlaker and sophomore Brittany Brewer for their hustle despite the lop-sided result.

The Tigers closed the scoring with 13:38 remaining. Handwork capped a scramble near the net on a play started with another Cox free kick.

That gave each member of the Tigers’ three-forward attack at least one goal in the match.

“With three forwards we can pass the ball back and forth and create a bunch of different good opportunities,” Cox said.

The Tigers have two conference games remaining in order to secure their third consecutive perfect SPC season. They face Plainfield South on Saturday before closing the regular season against Minooka. In between they play Naperville North and Lake Forest.

The Wolves have two games remaining, both at home: East Aurora on Saturday and Oswego on Tuesday.

“We’d like to go into the playoffs with two more wins under our belts,” Anderson said. “We came into this game with not a lot of confidence, so hopefully we can get that back.”