Wysocki rounding into form for Plainfield Central

By Matt Le Cren

Plainfield Central forward Bailey Wysocki is slowly but surely getting back into shape after suffering a fractured right ankle in January, and that’s good news for a team desperate for offense.

The Wildcats (7-14) went 0-3 to finish last in the eight-team Lemont Cup this weekend and have scored just 22 goals in 21 matches this season.

While Plainfield Central coach Ken Schoen was disappointed after his team blew a 1-0 lead and lost 3-2 to Downers Grove North in the seventh-place match Saturday afternoon, he at least had found a ray of sunlight in the performance of Wysocki, who scored both of the Wildcats' goals.

“I’m feeling better,” Wysocki said. “I feel like I’m getting back into things, getting back to where I should be.”

But it has been a long struggle for Wysocki, who initially kept playing on the broken ankle because she thought it was just a sprain.

“It didn’t heal so I was on crutches for a month and I just got back a week or two ago,” Wysocki said. “I’m trying. I feel really slow. I’m so used to just going 100 percent all the time, so it’s different and I kind of have to get used to that. But I’m doing all that I can.”

Wysocki was initially limited to 10 minutes of playing time per match but has gradually increased that to 20-25 minutes. The Downers North game was her fifth of the season and she looked anything but slow at the outset as she took a pass from sophomore Britney Lenza at midfield and raced 50 yards on a breakaway before beating Trojans goalie Courtney Chamerski to the short side to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead just 68 seconds into the match.

“I was [surprised at the opening] but I saw their defense was playing a flat back and they were playing up at half,” Wysocki said. “I love to play teams like that. I love to exploit that. There is so much open space to play with.”

Downers North (10-7) tied it up five minutes later on a goal by Heather Muno, then took a 2-1 lead on Sarah Desai’s tally four minutes into the second half.

Wysocki equalized for Central with 27 minutes remaining when she made a steal in the North box and quickly beat Chamerski.

But the Wildcats finished with only four shots and the only other Central player to get off an attempt was freshman Shannon Jensen, who had a shot stopped with 18:30 left. The Trojans scored the winner on a corner kick with 10:30 to go and controlled play for most of the match.

“We came close to tying; I don’t know if we came close to winning,” Schoen said. “It’s extremely disappointing because it’s a winnable game and we definitely shouldn’t have lost this game.

“But they controlled the game and we deserved the loss. I think concentration wasn’t there and effort wasn’t there. We have a problem creating opportunities. Today we were just getting hurt in back all over the place.”

Indeed, the score wouldn’t have been close if not for the play of junior goalie Janna Pascente, who made 13 saves for the Wildcats.

“She is amazing,” Wysocki said. “We’re all so proud of her. She’s really improved over the past year.”

But Wysocki knows if the offense doesn’t improve, Central will have a tough time getting in the win column. Earlier in the day, the Wildcats dropped a 2-0 decision to Lincoln-Way East, another team which is struggling to find the back of the net. It was the team’s seventh loss in the last eight games. Six of the defeats have been shutouts.

“We’re working on having a sense of urgency that we’re lacking,” Wysocki said. “I think we played pretty well this morning. We were connecting passes and I don’t know if we were tired in this game.

“Even though we should be motivated already, I think this [finish] will give us a little more motivation.”