Hawks fight back to tie Plainfield South

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By Gary Larsen

The two main things that new varsity players need to get accustomed to are the speed of play and the physical nature of what goes on between the lines when playing against varsity veterans.

Hoffman Estates got a good, healthy dose of physical play from Plainfield South in a 1-1 tie on Saturday, that only figures to pay dividends down the road.

“It was in the middle of the field where the battle was won or lost,” Hawks’ coach Rob Schmidt said. “It was just going back and forth. It was vicious.”

“(Plainfield South) came out and set the tone and we had to regroup. We’ve got a lot of young players, and we need a game like this.”

In the final game of the Hawks’ Invitational tournament, the hosts fell behind in the game’s fourth minute when Plainfield South’s Sarah Johnson buried a shot from six yards out, set up by a corner kick.

But from that point forward, the Hawks fought tooth-and-nail.

“We’ve been talking about coming out with urgency the entire year, but we made an early mistake and they capitalized,” Schmidt said. “But I give my kids credit. Playing two games in a day is hard.”

Schmidt’s team this year is junior-heavy, with 7 juniors and 5 seniors on the roster. Three sophomores and one freshman round out the Hawks’ roster.

“They’re slowly coming around,” Schmidt said. “They further along at this point than we were in the past, just because they’re learning so much. We’ve had highly intense practices and we’ve got some veterans that are setting the tone for the others.”

The Hawks gained a tie by virtue of a penalty kick converted in the game’s 60th minute, off the foot of sophomore Mary Pettit.

“Megan Thomas, Mary Pettit, and the freshman Jackie Nailor – they all had a good showing this weekend at our tournament,” Schmidt said. “Kelsey Lukowicz wasn’t able to play in this game but she was rock-solid against South Elgin, in a 3-0 win.”

Thomas, Pettit, and Nailor were all named to the Hawks’ all-tournament team.

“But overall, I think everyone is contributing. Everyone is offering and playing within their means, and contributing,” Schmidt said. “But Megan Thomas and Mary Pettit were the two that were really dominant for us.”

“We had to shift (Thomas) back to defend. We lost two starters to high ankle sprains today,” Schmidt said. “We were playing with two rookies in the back.”

The Hawks improved their season record to 3-2-1 with Saturday’s efforts. With another tough conference schedule on their plate, they’ll need to gain experience as quickly as possible.

“We came out strong against Hersey (in a 1-0 loss) and they went downstate last year,” Schmidt said. “Our conference is tough. We’ve got Barrington, Fremd, and Conant, and they’ve been dominant forces in the state.

We’ve got to do what we can against those teams and we’re looking forward to it.”