Brewer collects four goals as Wolves end scoreless drought

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR OSWEGO EAST'S TEAM PAGE

 

By Curt Herron

After scoring just one goal in its first two matches of the week, Oswego East was feeling pretty frustrated when it played at Romeoville on Thursday.

The Wolves were coming off of a 2-1 shootout loss to Plainfield South in their conference opener and then a scoreless draw with Manteno the next day.

Then to make matters worse, East had all sorts of chances during the opening half of its match with the Spartans but again struggled to find the net.

But just as coach Lauren Anderson's squad was nearing the break, their luck began to change and the recent goal-scoring woes suddenly disappeared.

East scored a pair of goals in the final five minutes of the half to take some momentum into the final 40 minutes of its match with the Spartans.

And for good measure, the Wolves put six more scores on the board after the intermission to claim an 8-0 Southwest Prairie Conference road victory.

One of the most-frustrated Wolves was sophomore forward Brittany Brewer, who had been unable to score a goal during her previous four matches.

After experiencing more disappointment throughout much of Thursday's first half, things also suddenly clicked for Brewer, right before the break.

Brewer picked up her team's initial goal and then collected three more goals during the second half to lead the way for the Wolves (3-3-1, 1-1).

Megan Ross, Carli Schlaker, Justine Lee and Anita Phetchanpheng also added goals as East scored seven times in a span of just over 24 minutes.

"Even though we were up 2-0 at halftime, I wasn't very happy and neither were the girls," Anderson said. "We had plenty of chances, including nine nicely-placed corner kicks, where the ball dropped into the box but no one was stepping to them since our intensity was down.

"Finally, we got the first goal and started to turn things around and the girls got pumped and came out with that same intensity in the second half. Even though I don't really like to score eight goals against a team, we kind of needed this since we were in a scoring rut.

"This shows our team that we can score, but we can't wait until the last minute and we need to play with more confidence. Our goal is to finish near the top of our conference and this was a game that we needed to win, especially after already losing to Plainfield South."

Much of the first half seemed like a bad dream for the Wolves, who completely dominated the Spartans (4-3, 0-2) but had nothing to show for it.

With Schlaker applying plenty of pressure on corner kicks and Katie Ross sending in a few shots on goal, the Wolves were constantly threatening.

It looked like the visitors finally broke through in the 34th minute when Brewer sent a pass in front to Schlaker, who put in a short attempt.

But that goal was disallowed due to an offsides call and things remained scoreless until the Wolves finally ended the drought a short time later.

With just under five minutes left in the half, Brewer connected from close range to give her squad its first goal in nearly 155 minutes of play.

The Wolves built on that score about a minute and a half later following a nice sequence which got started with a corner kick from Sam Lee.

Following the corner, Julianna DePoister came up with the ball and passed it to Megan Ross, who hit a short attempt to make it a 2-0 contest.

East almost added another goal in the final minute but Katie Ross's free kick from just outside of the box bounced off the corner of the frame.

Still, the Wolves had broken out of their long slump, as had Brewer, and things were looking a lot more encouraging for their final 40 minutes.

"Finally," Brewer said. "I hadn't scored in four games and today I got four goals. Now all the butterflies are finally gone and out of my system and I should be good to go.

"Once I scored, we all stepped up as a team and the adrenaline started rushing and we all just kept going. Everyone got the mindset that were on top of it so let's score.

"As a whole, I think we'll be okay after this game and this was a big win for us since it's conference. We're playing to feet and the freshman are putting it all together."

The Wolves picked up where they left off following the break, applying early pressure on a shot try from Jill Hall and a corner from Sam Lee.

They got back on the scoreboard in the 47th minute when Hall bounced an attempt off the crossbar and Schlaker was there to put in the rebound.

About a minute later, Brewer connected for her second goal and the team's fourth and she got her hat trick in the 55th minute on a penalty kick.

Brewer added a fourth score in the 59th minute, off an assist from Justine Lee, who hit a shot off the post that found the net a minute later.

All the while, the Wolves defense of Brenna Risch, Victoria Pecci, DePoister and Phetchanpheng, who also added a late goal, were barely tested.

That made for a pretty easy in the net for keeper Hannah Gargrave, who made one save to post her team's third shutout in their last four matches.

"We definitely needed a win," Schlaker said. "We needed to score some to get the confidence to play well today. It took us awhile to get going but it definitely paid off for us.

"We stepped up our intensity and we're doing a lot better as a whole in connecting passes, but we just need to work on finishing, since we were getting a lot of opportunities."