Wildcats can't capitalize on early chances in loss to Minooka

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By Bill Scheibe

Fans hardly had enough time to get comfortable in their seats Tuesday afternoon before Plainfield Central senior Bailey Wysocki sailed a booming shot over the crossbar and through the goal posts.

It was a better boot than Robbie Gould for the Chicago Bears, but with three minutes and six seconds remaining in the second half, an unbearable day found its silver lining when Wysocki set up a goal.

In a word? Frustrating.

"Definitely," Wysocki nodded, standing in the sun after host Plainfield Central outshot Minooka by a 2-1 margin but only could watch as senior midfielder Becca Sutton notched a natural three-goal hat trick and added an assist while the Indians steamrolled to the 5-1 Southwest Prairie Conference decision.

"I definitely feel the pressure of missing that first one," Wysocki said. "I don't even know what happened to me there. It was totally my responsibility and it was right there in front of me, and I know that you just have to capitalize on those opportunities. Obviously, we have to work on our finishing."

From start to finish, Plainfield Central (2-5-1, 0-2) played step-for-step with Minooka (5-5, 2-0), gaining a 22-12 advantage in overall shots and a 9-7 edge in shots on goal. However, the Indians owned a 6-4 difference in corner kicks and seemingly converted on every Wildcat mistake in the defensive third.

Besides the breakout effort of Sutton, Minooka received a goal and an assist from junior midfielder Alysha Alonzo. Sophomore defender Jillian Hetfleisch scored a goal as well, with junior forward Colleen Lewis and junior midfielder Alyssa Hemza each contributing assists. Sutton also netted a penalty kick.

A Saginaw Valley State-bound forward, Wysocki helped wipe away the zero on the scoreboard for Central, serving up a corner kick to the middle of the box that gritty junior midfielder/defender Lauren Kulaga expertly deflected into the lower-right corner to close out the barrage of scoring.

Meanwhile, Minooka managed to massage its 1-0 halftime lead as Sutton scored three straight goals. The concept of woulda, coulda, shoulda came into clearer focus when senior midfielder/stopper Kelsey Graefen followed Wysocki's near-miss by blasting a shot off the crossbar with 14:51 left in the first half.

In a word? Well …

"Frustrating," Graefen said. "It's frustrating. Nothing good came out of it. In the first half, I thought we controlled it better, but nothing was going our way or going into the net like we wanted it to. We all noticed that we became frantic trying to score, and we have to learn to keep our heads on straight."

"Yep, I think we were the better team in the first half and it showed," Central coach Ken Schoen said. "I thought it was pretty clear. But then the second half came and we definitely weren't the better team anymore. If we get a lead, we can just play our normal game and not press so much."

Instead, that early lead went Minooka's way. Sutton controlled a loose ball near the circle of the box and slid a pass over to Alonzo, whose perfectly placed shot soared past the outstretched gloves of senior goalkeeper Janna Pascente (2 saves) and rested under the crossbar with 29:24 left in the first half.

On Saturday, Minooka suffered a 4-0 loss to Andrew. The Indians were dealing with the leukemia diagnosis of senior Sam Gewalt, an all-conference goalkeeper with four shutouts last season who already had played in a couple games this spring. Their youthful resilience climbed to the forefront.

"We changed up some things since the Andrew game," said Minooka coach Chris Brolley, who has turned to senior April Wilke (8 saves) at goalkeeper. "We played some people in different positions and it really paid off. It kept our defense active enough and they were able to keep us in the game."

Anchored by Hetfleisch, sophomore Deaven Hudson, freshman Ashlin Alonzo and Hemza, Minooka's defense was as elastic as a rubber band – never snapping despite Wysocki's end-line cross to Graefen for the shot that shook the crossbar and a handful of dynamite direct kicks from both Wysocki and Kulaga.

Everything except a goal.

"Exactly," Kulaga said. "That's what coach told us at halftime. We were playing really well, we were keeping up with them pretty well and we were controlling the game. We had good speed, we were looking to pass, looking to shoot, and we had lots of opportunities. We just couldn't finish at all."

The superb Sutton finished Plainfield off in the second half, powering a shot into the far-right corner with 28:22 left for the 2-0 lead. She scored on a penalty kick and a breakaway in a span of 1:41, with Hetfleisch hitting on another breakaway strike via a long-ball feed from Hemza at 4:14 remaining.

"She's a big-time player," Brolley said of Sutton. "This is the game last year where she picked up three or four goals as well. Every single game, she really picks up her teammates, and she's a great player. I just wish that I could get her a break sometime, but that's all right."

"They started pushing up and attacking a little bit," Schoen said. "And we were getting beat in the back because we had to attack and push up more, and they were able to take advantage of that."

Finally, the Wildcats caught a break a mere 1:08 later. Wysocki sent her corner into a swarm of humanity around the Minooka net. Constantly causing havoc around the ball, Kulaga was able to get a slight touch that spun through the screen of players surrounding Wilke to eradicate the shutout.

"It's always good to get one," Kulaga said. "I wish we could have turned the clock back 30 minutes. We got frustrated with ourselves and we needed to calm down a little bit, but we can learn from this."

"If that goal would have happened earlier in the game, we could have picked it up more and it would have given us more time," Wysocki said. "I wish we would have scored that goal earlier in the game."

All game long, though, Central created chances to score. In the second half alone, sophomore midfielder Jessica Munkvold, junior midfielder Julie Tamayo and Graefen were as close as a nose on a face to putting shots into the back of the net. Now, it's getting from Point A to Point B to Point C.

"It's frustrating because we played so well against New Trier and Niles North last week," Graefen said. "Again, it's very frustrating because I believe we still have to prove ourselves, and I don't think that we have shown our true selves as a team. We have not shown how good we really are."

At least, not yet.