Halftime talk helps Cougars rally for a tie with Joliet Township

By Darryl Mellema

If you were searching for a little peace and quiet at halftime of Saturday's Plainfield South-Joliet Township girls soccer contest, the place to avoid was anywhere within earshot of the Cougars' huddle.

The Cougars admittedly had much to discuss, being on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline. Worse, visiting Joliet had hit the crossbar and a goalpost in a very solid 40-minute performance.

So Plainfield South went to have its halftime chat and coach Kevin Allen dominated proceedings.

"It's our fourth game and we haven't played well in the first half in four tries," Allen said. "I don't know what it is, whether it was because it was a Saturday morning game or what. But we had a lackadaisical start. When they came in at halftime, we were relieved it was 1-0 because we didn't play our best soccer."

With Allen's admonishments in their ears, the Cougars set to work rescuing the game and for 20 minutes, they dominated and tied the score. But neither team was able to force a winner, and the contest ended 1-1.

"They needed a fire lit under them in the second half and I tried to get them going," Allen said. "I tried to get them going in the second half. There's room for improvement but we're satisfied with the result."

If you were predicting a Cougars player who was going to head her team's goal, Kelley Fracasso wouldn't have been at the top of the list yet the diminutive midfielder latched onto Alex Truhlar's corner kick nine minutes into the second half.

Fracasso got her header from the left side of the penalty area aimed goalward, and it went into the right side netting.

"Second half was definitely a lot stronger," Fracasso said. "We tend to come out a little slow and it seems to take a little of the coach yelling at us to get us out there playing our game."

Fracasso has two goals so far this season, but this was the far more unlikely one.

"I wasn't expecting it to go in," she said. "I was kind of surprised. It's kind of funny. I always get yelled at for not heading the ball. To score a goal on a header was pretty exciting for me."

Fracasso proved that proper positioning, no matter how tall a player is, can still reap benefits.

"Height's an issue, but I get there," Fracasso said. "I was just trying to get a head on the ball and got lucky."

Fracasso was part of a reshuffled lineup for South (2-1-1) on Saturday. Part of that was due to the Cougars man-marking of Joliet's Kristine Dorre. Abby Banks picked up much of that duty, along with Maddy Haski.

"They did a great job one-on-one with (Dorre)," Allen said, "But everyone else was kind of out of sorts."

The midfield was also shuffled due to some illness. As a result, Fracasso played outside back for awhile and then moved into a central midfield role in the second half.

Dorre still scored the Steelwomen's goal, a low shot 15 minutes before halftime that crept under Plainfield South keeper Taylor Schwebke.

But for much of the match, the Cougars kept the dangerous Joliet senior closely marked.

Great goalscoring chances went away for awhile after Fracasso's goal. The Cougars dominated for awhile, then the Steelwomen came back into the game.

Dorre forced a point-blank save from Schwebke with 10 minutes to play, the best save by either goalie in the game.

South's best chance to win the match came with four minutes to play when Sarah Johnson steamed in on a breakaway but her shot went straight at Joliet goalie Adjoa Matthews.

"When you're looking at half the field open, you're going to get excited," Allen said. "But maybe a touch toward the middle and she would have gotten a shot with a better angle."

Joliet came straight back and Dorre shot wide with two minutes left with the last chance of the game.

South opens Spring Break with some practices before heading to the Hoffman Estates Tournament on Thursday and Saturday.

"We'd like to get a trophy from there," Allen said. "That was one of our goals of the season. We'd like to get some hardware from both of the tournaments we're at this year."

Joliet (0-0-1) got its season off to a solid start through Dorre's goal but was then frustrated it couldn't turn that dominance into a larger halftime lead.

"It was our first game," Joliet coach Jeff Lundeen said. "We had a number of opportunities that just didn't work out for us."

In addition to her goal, Dorre also rattled the crossbar and the Steelwomen also hit a goalpost in the first half.

"We just needed to come out and finish in the second half," Lundeen said. "But credit to Plainfield South. They came out and were aggressive and got a goal and it finished in a tie."