Tigers beat Cougars again to win own invite championship

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By Matt Le Cren

Unlike last year, Stephanie Barr hasn't put up huge offensive numbers for Plainfield North, but then again, she hasn't had to.

The Tigers have excelled thanks to a host of young players like sophomores Ashley Auble and Callie O’Donnell and freshman Ashley Handwork.

As much as those players have shined, though, Barr is still the one who stirs the drink for North and she proved it Saturday in the championship match of the third annual Plainfield North Invitational.

Barr's perfectly-placed 25-yard free kick went off the fingertips of leaping Plainfield South goalie Taylor Schwebke to open the scoring with 34:44 remaining in the first half and the Tigers cruised to a 4-0 victory.

It was the 10th consecutive win and 16th in the last 17 games for North (18-3), which broke the school record for victories and won the 16-team tournament for the second straight year.

"My shots haven't been on goal completely," Barr said. "Lately they've just been going over.

"I've been trying to keep it down, so I was really concentrating. I told [Tigers coach Jane Crowe] I was saving it for this game."

It figured Barr would come up with a big performance against the Tigers' crosstown rivals. She had two assists when North beat the Cougars 3-0 on April 5.

But while she has been dominant in controlling the midfield, her contributions haven't always shown up on the stat sheet.

"I haven't had to score many goals this year," Barr said. "[My teammates] have taken care of it for me. I just send it to Ashley or Callie and they'll put it in the net.

"I've been doing [my thing] in the middle and they've been putting them in the goal."

O'Donnell scored twice in this one to increase her team-leading total to 21. She was credited with North's second goal when her shot deflected off a South defender with 3:38 left in the first half.

Handwork tallied her 19th goal by knocking home an O'Donnell corner kick at the 36:59 mark of the second half to put the Tigers up 3-0 and O'Donnell finished the scoring with 41 seconds left.

"I love being here," Handwork said. "I think we make a good team. Everyone is so good with the passes and I love giving out assists and getting the goals, too. Callie has a lot of nice crosses, especially on the corners."

Barr, who is part of the first graduating class to have played four years of varsity soccer, said the program is in good hands even after she leaves.

"We have a bright future," she said. "Since last year, our underclassmen are the stronger part of our program. When we play games during practice that are upperclassmen versus underclassmen, they end up winning.

"We've always been a young team and it's staying like that, which isn't a bad thing."

Despite her youth, Handwork knows the Tigers place a priority on beating their rivals.

"We all came out fired up for this game," Handwork said. "[Beating them before] made us come out just as hard.

"We weren't satisfied beating them once. We had to do it again, by a little more this time. I felt like we came out here with a lot of confidence."

The Tigers limited the Cougars (12-5-2) to just three shots. Goalies Paige Polonus and Emily Brodict, who played the final 11:20, did not have to make a save.

Barr, Auble and sophomore Anna O'Donnell had their way in the middle and defenders Brianna Buckley, Kelsey Gill, Hayley Wegrzyn and Kelsey Gill kept the Cougars contained.

"[The midfield] is where we're lacking," said South coach Kevin Allen, whose team's five-game winning streak – all shutouts – was snapped. "That's where we've been successful the last two weeks. Our center mids were very good. They were able to attack the space.

"[North] is a tough team and they were better than us. We haven't faced a team like that in quite some time. It's kind of frustrating that we weren't able to put a little better effort out there, but I'm definitely proud of the way we kept our heads and stuck it out."

The Cougars can take some consolation in the fact they gave the Tigers their toughest test in the tournament.

North advanced to the title match by routing Romeoville 9-0 in the morning semifinals.

O'Donnell had two goals and an assist, Handwork tallied a goal and two assists and Buckley, Anna O'Donnell and Ali Cox each added one goal and one assist.

Auble, Carlie Corrigan and Marissa Basar also scored while Barr, Paige Slowik and Allie Kightly all had an assist for the Tigers, who have scored 92 goals.

"We've done a good job of scoring early and then being able to settle down and play a little bit," Crowe said.

"You can tell it was a rivalry because it was physical and these girls know each other. They're out there ready to battle no matter what."

South tied its school win record with a 2-0 semifinal defeat of Lockport thanks to goals by Kaitlyn Kraz and Brittany McDaniel.

"Second place out of 16 teams is something to be proud of," Allen said. "It's a tough setup with three games in 24 hours. That is tough on anybody.

"Hopefully we can get lucky and someone will knock [the Tigers] off next week in conference and we'll tie them for first."

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