Chicagoland Soccer

Panthers fall to Naperville Central

By Eddie Burns

There were a few positives that came out of Oswego’s 4-1 loss at Naperville Central on Monday.

Emily Swanson’s goal in the 25th minute helped put an end to the Panthers’ scoreless streak at 117 minutes, which covered almost three halves of soccer to the 2010 season.

“It was huge to get that goal,” Swanson said. “We needed that for confidence purposes.”

Swanson’s goal came as a result of a corner kick taken by teammate Austin Wilson. The ball Wilson played toward the penalty area didn’t quite reach Central goalie Jill D’Amico, but Oswego’s Trisha Carr made a play at the ball as it made its way toward Swanson, who stuck it past D’Amico.

“We came out slow, but that goal was a welcomed sight,” Oswego coach Jamie Bartkowiak said. “We picked things up in the second half of the first half.”

Swanson’s goal was significant at the time, because it pulled the Panthers even with the Redhawks at 1-1, but Oswego (0-2) was unable to finish the half on a solid note.

Shortly before intermission, Central’s Gina Maddi accepted a well-played ball from teammate Ashley Tegge. Maddi made the extra pass to teammate Kristin Adams, who was open and waiting to score 20 seconds before intermission.

“That is a mistake that we can’t let happen,” Swanson said. “We have to be better than that. We were feeling a little too good about ourselves and that goal put us in our place a bit.”

Central (2-0-1) used the change in momentum to add two second-half goals, which helped the Redhawks pull away to victory in this nonconference match.

“They snuck one in on us there (late in the first half),” Bartkowiak said. “We kept making the same mistake and we have to fix it. They were sending runners in and we were caught ball watching and that is the only way they scored. If we stay with our marks -- that is a completely different game.”

Bartkowiak was encouraged that outside of its marking mistakes that the Panthers managed to play right with the Redhawks.

“My favorite phrase growing up when I was around soccer was, ‘You have to sharpen iron against iron.’ You can’t take a knife and cut paper,” Bartkowiak said. “I keep talking about how our postseason is one of our largest focuses and to play Naperville Central and Bartlett like we did – I think we’ll be in good shape later on this season.”

Bartkowiak gave each of her sophomore goalies one half in net. Sophomore Katie Wagner started and allowed two goals before giving way to Laura Gallardo, who also allowed two goals as well.

“We’re still working on our goalie situation,” Bartkowiak said. “We’re trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses each possess because they are both really strong keepers.”

Almost every Panther who dressed had an opportunity to play as Bartkowiak shuffled players in and out of the Oswego lineup.

“We keep having the girls play different positions on the field and they’ve taken everything we’ve thrown at them and they are getting the job done,” Bartkowiak said, “and that is a tough thing to do. We’ve also been switching formations and they are doing that well.”

Oswego fans should expect to continue to see a revolving door when it comes to the lineups.

“We’ve got a lot of girls on our team (22-person roster), so we’re going to substitute more than some of our opponents,” Bartkowiak said. “I just need to see something on the field that is getting the job done. When you see it getting done then the tendency won’t be there to substitute, but we’re not at that point right now. Things still need to be fixed, so you will see a lot of subs coming in and out of our lineup until people start getting the job done.”

Oswego plays its home opener next Tuesday against West Chicago.

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