Tigers roll past Oak Forest to start 2-0 in own invite

By Matt Le Cren

The more Ashley Auble and Callie O'Donnell connect, the more goals Plainfield North collects.

The sophomore standouts, who are longtime friends and teammates, were busy working their magic again Wednesday night.

They combined for six points as the host Tigers crushed Oak Forest 6-0 on the second night of pool play at the Plainfield North Invite.

Auble scored the first two goals for Plainfield North (15-3), with O'Donnell assisting on both.

O'Donnell also set up freshman Ashley Handwork's goal with 27:36 left in the second half that increased the lead to 3-0, and she scored her team's fifth goal seven minutes later.

It was the seventh straight win for the Tigers and 13th in their last 14 matches.

"We've been playing together since fourth grade, so we're really good at working together," Auble said. “Five of the sophomores have been playing together since third or fourth grade.

"We have really good chemistry between all the players on and off the field, so we're able to work together and we get along really well, so that helps."

Oak Forest (5-9) chose to pack its defense in and at one point all 11 Bengals were within 25 yards of their own goal.

It took a while for the Tigers to figure things out, but they finally found the back of the net on their ninth shot of the game.

Handwork passed up the right wing to O'Donnell, who made a run into the box and crossed to Auble crashing in on the left post for the tap-in with 11:40 left in the first half.

The two hooked up again at the 3:10 mark, with Auble chesting in a beautiful corner kick from O'Donnell.

"It took us a while to get going and get a goal but we got chances and you know eventually you're going to put one in," Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe said. "But [the Bengals] played hard and they made things difficult.

"When we played balls in the air they were aggressive enough to disrupt us a little bit. But once we kept the ball on the ground it was just a matter of time before we were going to finish."

Auble's two goals give her nine on the season, while O'Donnell's tally was her team-leading 17th.

"Ashley and Callie find each other all the time," Crowe said. "It's usually Ashley finding Callie. Today it was the other way around."

The Tigers have now outscored their first two tournament opponents 15-0, but that doesn't mean they are taking any team lightly.

They outshot the Bengals 35-0 and put continuous pressure on Oak Forest goalie Caitlyn Clifford, who made six saves but also bobbled two balls that led to North goals, including Handwork's 14th of the season.

"We know we're a pretty good team so we have to realize that even though we are the better team we have to start out strong and we have to keep it that way," O'Donnell said. "Just get the early goal and then it's easy from then."

"The earlier we score the better we seem to play because of the more confidence we have," Auble added.

Auble came close to recording the first hat trick of her prep career when she hit the left post just after halftime and later missed wide left on a header and had a hard shot tipped over the bar by Clifford.

"I was trying," Auble said. "I couldn't get the last one in. I don't know what happened."

O'Donnell's twin sister, Anna, made it 4-0 with 23:06 left when she pounced on the ball after Clifford mishandled a cross from Kelsey Gill.

Paulina Caratachea finished the scoring with 18:12 to go, knocking in Kelsey Allen's cross.

Sophomore goalie Paige Polonus did not have to make a save in recording the Tigers' 10th shutout.

Defenders Brianna Buckley, Angie Dziedzic and Hayley Wegrzyn and Gill had little to do as well for North, which has excelled against an upgraded schedule despite starting only one senior on Wednesday, Augustana-signee Stephanie Barr.

The Tigers' only losses have come to Huntley, Wheaton Warrenville South and Downers Grove South.

"It makes us better to play tougher teams because just playing the easy teams isn't really going to do anything for us," Auble said. "So I think we're becoming a better team by playing harder teams."

North wraps up pool play Friday night against Morris, which also won its first two matches. The tournament semifinals and finals are on Saturday at Romeoville.

"It's just more of a fun tournament for us," Crowe said. "We've had such a tough schedule this year and we've had a lot of tough games and the last two games we've been able to get everybody in."

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