Two second-half goals doom Hawks vs. Plainfield Central
By Gary Larsen

 

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Down 1-0 to Bartlett at halftime of a non-conference game and only one day after playing an overtime game against Oswego East, it would have been easy for Plainfield Central to phone in Friday’s second half.

And with a wind chill dropping the air temperature to around 40 degrees, it would have been understandable if coach Ken Schoen’s girls simply put things on cruise control.

A freshman, of all people, let Schoen know otherwise.

"I told him at halftime that I knew we were going to come back and win this," Plainfield Central’s Paige Fuller said. "You can't give up because it's never over."

The Wildcats (10-5-1) got goals from Fuller and sophomore Shawna Watson in a two-minute span of the second half en route to a 2-1 victory. Schoen was particularly pleased to see his side reverse a recent trend.

"We haven't been coming out well in the first half for many, many games," Schoen said. "I think the girls are finally sick of hearing me say that. So I was really pleased with the first half. We were down 1-0 but we were playing into the wind and we were controlling possession. We were doing everything right, we just couldn't find the net in the first half.”

Bartlett’s Nicole Gobbo did find the net in the first half, on a beauty of a finish from distance that found the coveted upper ninety, 12 minutes into the game.

Unfortunately for the host Hawks (8-6-2), playing without a handful of key starters and very few bench players, Gobbo’s goal was one of the day’s few bright spots.

"We have a short bench but collectively, as a team, we didn't have it tonight,” Hawks coach Heather Thomas said. “"I think Melissa (Gal) and Tina (Fairbanks) did well in back but as a whole I'm not happy with how we played tonight. We played with a lack of desire.”

After playing well into the wind through 40 minutes, Plainfield Central found an equalizing goal with the wind at its back at the 49-minute mark. Watson took a ball up the right side and crossed perfectly towards the far post, with Fuller charging on. "I just kind of knew she would make that run because she normally does," Watson said.

Fuller buried Watson’s serve to cap a strong opening attack for the Wildcats in the second half.
"I saw Watson coming and she had a good angle, so I made the run and she played a perfect ball," Fuller said.

Two minutes later, Fuller took a freekick 10 yards away from the Hawks’ net on the left side and found Watson at the far post. Watson’s goal gave ultimately proved to be the game-winner.

"Those were two of the best finishes we've had," Schoen said. "We were stepping to the ball, challenging, and not shying away from anything, and playing hard all over the field. Everyone stepped up tonight."

Already playing without starting senior center mid Brigid Hanley, and getting limited minutes from senior Jessica Kaminski, Plainfield Central took another hit when starting goalkeeper Tiffany Lenza collided with a Bartlett player and left the contest at 61 minutes.

Down 2-1, Bartlett didn’t go without scoring chances the rest of the way. Gobbo went just wide with a head shot at 52 minutes, hit another chance high at 59 minutes, and both Gobbo and Natalia Grodzki took swings at the ball in front of the Wildcats’ goal at 61 minutes.

Grodzki  is one of the area’s best goalkeepers but the senior played the field on Friday, with sophomore Amanda Lozada in net for the bench-shortened Hawks.

“Natalia has a little bit more experience on the field, and I'm very confident with Amanda back there," Thomas said. "And Natalia has put some goals away on the field for us this season."

Gobbo sent a breakaway chance just wide of frame at 79 minutes and Plainfield Central freshman Maddie Conroy had a goal-line clear of a Gobbo shot at the post with less than one minute to play in the game.

"She's a fantastic player," Schoen said of Conroy "She's a freshman but honestly, from our first game she didn't make any mistakes, she knows exactly what to do, she's composed, and she's fast."
Schoen also appreciated the work senior Lauren Kulaga did, moving into a central midfield role with Hanley absent from the game.

Plainfield Central  hosts Addison Trail on Monday and plays away at Oswego on Thursday before opening play in this year’s Lemont Cup tournament with a game against Carl Sandburg on Friday.
Bartlett plays three games in the West Chicago tournament over the next week and hosts highly-touted Metea Valley on Tuesday.

Thomas hopes his side uses Friday’s loss as a wake-up call for a challenging week ahead.

“(Plainfield Central) scored two goals in two minutes and we're down 2-1, but there was no urgency. It was complacency,” Thomas said. “With 25 minutes left to go we still had chances but it wasn't until there were 10 minutes left that we found some urgency. We knew we'd be short-handed tonight -- we knew that all week long -- but I think it got to us mentally. I think they let it get to them."