Wildcats slow down Wolves, remain alive in SPC race

 

 

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By Curt Herron

Kevin Fitzgerald's game plan was pretty simple, which was simply to not allow Jorge Alvarez to score.

But as the Plainfield Central coach knew all too well, saying it and doing it were two different things.

In order for the Wildcats to shut down Oswego East's talented senior, it would require a total team effort.

While Edgar Chavez had the responsibility of shadowing Alvarez, his teammates also had to raise their play.

And Central's players went out and did just that, bringing an energy they possessed throughout the match.

East started flat and never got into much of a rhythm, something that hasn't happened often this season.

After the teams exchanged penalties in the first half, the host Wildcats struck again in the 51st minute.

The Wolves had no answer and Central captured a key 2-1 Southwest Prairie Conference home win on Tuesday.

Central (5-4-1, 2-1) faced additional pressure since it lost an SPC match at Plainfield South last Monday.

That allowed East (6-2-1, 0-1) the chance to seriously damage the hopes of the perennial league champions.

Instead, the Wildcats responded and became the first team to blank East during the run of play this year.

"Our guys have played harder lately and it makes a difference," Fitzgerald said. "In our game, effort goes a long, long ways. Everybody did their job today and they all played extremely hard.

"Edgar Chavez was outstanding on Jorge and that was key. But our guys on the backline, Josh Rosenbaum, Billy Ballentine, Nick Giocolo and Dan Rosenbaum, won the ball constantly, especially out of the air.

"Jon Iniguez also was outstanding. Some times we seem to forget about Tyler Badertscher in net, but he was real good for us and saved us a ton of times. Him and his defense are starting to play better."

The Wolves entered with 38 goals and had collected four or mores scores in five of their eight matches.

Jorge Alvarez had 14 of that total, putting him well ahead of the pace he set a year ago with 23 goals.

"Oswego East is a real good team and I told (coach) Steve (Szymanski), 'you're fun to watch.' Fitzgerald said. "I didn't want to watch them play like that against us, but they're fun to watch.

"They've got Jorge and Marco Alvarez, and those two alone are tough, but they have help, too. Obviously the freshman, Jelani Pieters, is going to be a tough player to handle the next few years.

"Our plan was to stop Jorge and even though Edgar was going to mark him all game, it was everyones' responsibility. Other guys might score and beat us but we were not going to let #11 get a hat trick."

The Wildcats had all sorts of chances during the opening half but still were tied up at 1-1 at the break.

East's equalizer that occurred in the final seconds of the first half could have demoralized many squads.

But Central bounced back, getting a goal from Miguel Sanchez off an assist from Nick Giocolo a bit later.

"Their keeper played real well and made some great saves in the first half," said Fitzgerald of East's Dakota Bruns. "You worry about not cashing in early and then have that come back to haunt you.

"And then they get a goal right before halftime to tie it up. We worked real hard and basically didn't have much to show for it. But their response to that was pretty good, which isn't easy to do."

Chavez knew that he and his teammates would have their hands full against the potent Wolves attack.

"We knew that they were good team but we worked hard as a team and you saw what happened," Chavez said. "We came out with a positive result and allowed one goal, on a penalty kick.

"I was told to stop Jorge and I knew that it wouldn't be easy, but I was up to the challenge. I worked hard in practice following one guy around and it showed today that it worked.

"We had a tough loss to South but we weren't going to let that ruin conference. If we come out in every game with this type of intensity, then we'll have a lot of games go our way.

"When we all play as one, sometimes we look like a great team. But some times all of us aren't on the same page. But today all of us worked hard and we all wanted to win this game."

After being held scoreless for much of Saturday's West Aurora match, East connected late for a 1-0 win.

But Wolves coach Steve Szymanski knows that good programs can have success limiting his team's offense.

That part doesn't bother the Wolves coach, but what does is not seeing a good effort for all 80 minutes.

While the Wildcats came in fired up and played accordingly, East didn't seem to have the same intensity.

"I knew from the start that Central would be pumped and ready to play us," Szymanski said. "Before the game, Kevin was telling me how we were the best team in the conference and the team to beat.

Their guys responded and came out focused and ready to play while our guys looked lackadaisical, we weren't first to the ball and weren't winning balls in the air. We weren't playing like we have been.

"Beside the last two minutes of the first half they dominated us and I don't think we even had a shot on goal. That's a credit to them since they were prepared and they executed their game plan well.

"They had a kid chase Jorge around and we couldn't get him the ball or combine anything with him to be successful. We had alot of guys who didn't really show up today while all 11 of their kids did.

"Central was well-prepared and that's a credit to Kevin and his staff. I felt that we were prepared, but we didn't execute today and that was the difference in the game."

Early on, the Rosenbaums teamed up as Dan's throw in led to Josh's header, which bounced off the crossbar.

The first of several threatening corner kicks by Sanchez followed, but East's Dakota Bruns halted the liner.

Central moved ahead in the tenth minute when a foul was called in the box and Josh Rosenbaum made the PK.

The Wildcats kept up the pressure on Bruns as Billy Ballentine and Nick Giocolo were denied on attempts.

Shortly before the break, Bruns made a tip save on a liner from Mo Rashid before stopping a Sanchez try.

One of East's first good opportunities came when Tyler Badertscher stopped a short try by Nate Paisley.

As the clock wound down, the Wildcats were called for a foul in the box with just 11 seconds remaining.

Badertscher stopped Jorge Alvarez's initial PK, but was ruled to have come off of his line too early.

He also got a hand on the subsequent penalty but the ball trickled into the net to create a 1-1 tie.

"We knew that they've scored against and beaten good teams, so coach really made a point of us coming out strong and I think that we did that today," Giocolo said.

"To stop a team like that you have to have fundamentals all over the field. Every man has to do their job and you function as a team in order to help pull out a win.

"We had some tweaks to work out after losing to South and I thought that we came out today and played as a team. This is a step forward and we need to move from here."

After the break, Josh Rosenbaum sent in a long free kick and Badertscher stopped try by Jelani Pieters.

Not long after that, Giocolo sent a pass to Sanchez, who put in a shot that proved to be the difference.

Bruns was busy during one brief sequence, halting tries from Rashid, Dan Rosenbaum and Jon Iniguez.

The Wildcat keeper also stopped a pair of shots from both Marco and Jorge Alvarez down the stretch.

"We know that we have the ability to beat anyone in our conference," Iniguez said. "As long as we do our best and try our hardest in every game, we'll do well.

"This was a must win for us but all of our conference games are must wins now after we lost to South. So we came out and gave it our all today and we won this game.

"At halftime coach motivated us and kept us focused. We know that if we all do our jobs and go hard for every ball, things will fall into place and you win games."