Wolves fail to finish against cross-town rival Oswego

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By D.J. Wanberg

With the postseason just days away, what better way to end the regular season than to take on your cross-town rival?

The bleachers at Oswego East's soccer field were filled Tuesday afternoon as Oswego edged the Wolves 1-0 to extend its winning streak to seven.

And while rivalry action got the soccer blood going for both teams on this day, after the game the talk moved quickly to the playoffs.

Next up for the Panthers (8-7-3 overall, 6-1 Southwest Prairie Conference) is a Naperville North Regional quarterfinal game at home Friday at 4:30 p.m. Oswego is seeded 15th in the Class 3A Waubonsie Valley Sectional and will battle No. 18 Downers Grove North.

The winner travels to Naperville North, this Tuesday, May 17, to take on the No. 2 hosts, also at 4:30 p.m..

For Oswego, it's not about their postseason opponents' resumes. It's about focusing at the main task at hand, trying to beat them at each step of the playoffs.

"We're not thinking about the teams we're playing or where they are ranked," Panther senior Lisa Bajkowski said.

Oswego finished the regular season strong, but they see a clean slate facing them starting Friday.

"It's nice (the streak). But you don't think about it (going into the playoffs). We're not going to focus on it. We're going to take it one game at a time," Panthers’ coach Jamie Bartkowiak said.

Although Oswego will be all business for the postseason, the team did savor the win over the Wolves (11-7-1, 3-4) after Oswego had won the previous two cross-town battles.

The lone goal came just 4:50 into the contest as the Panthers' Cathy Tram maneuvered around a couple of East defenders until she had an open shot from about 15 yards out.

"I wasn't expecting it to go in. I struck it hard," she said. "It helped set the tone for the game. It helped relax us."

Oswego kept the pressure up in the Wolves' half of the field and Hannah Gargrave made six first-half saves and finished with nine for the contest.

Gargrave made a couple of quick-thinking kick-saves and her best stop coming with just over one minute left until halftime when she split the traffic in front of her and punched a shot away from the net.

The Wolves, seeded 12th in the Waubonsie Valley Sectional, open the postseason this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. by taking on No. 5 Downers Grove South in a Bolingbrook Regional semifinal. They will use the break before the game to do what they can to fine-tune a capable offense that can pressure an opponent, but hasn’t been converting consistently on its scoring chances.

"It's the story of the season. We created opportunities for ourselves all season and we can't connect with finishing," Wolves coach Lauren Anderson said.

East attacked the Panthers' defense much more aggressively in the second half with Oswego freshman goalkeeper Amy Annala making six of her seven total saves in the game's final 40 minutes.

The best scoring chances for the Wolves came late in the contest. With less than 10 minutes to play, Victoria Pecci's 30-yard shot barely cleared the crossbar. About seven minutes later, Annala was forced to make a save in heavy traffic on a cross sent near the net.

Earlier in the half, other good scoring chances came from Carli Schlaker and Sabrina Gillette-Harris.

"The team was confident going into the second half. They didn't have doubts. They had their heads up and were ready for the challenge," Anderson said. "We need to work on playing better as team."