Tigers fall on two late Oswego goals

 

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By D.J. Wanberg

If Plainfield North is compiling a highlight DVD for fall sports award night, this game won't be on it.

Host Oswego scored two late goals to prevail 2-0 on Tuesday in Southwest Prairie Conference play. The Tigers (5-4-1 overall, 1-1 SPC)  played solid defensively for most of the game, but the offense fell flat the entire contest.

Coach Jim O'Hara was looking for reasons afterwards.

"We played a game yesterday (a 2-0 win at Lincoln-Way North). But we always go hard in practice. I'm not using that as an excuse as to why we came out flat," he said. In fact, Tuesday's game was Plainfield North's third in four days.

O'Hara lamented that the loss came in conference play, but he was also concerned about the timing of it. He said the sectional seeding meeting takes place next Wednesday, Sept. 21.

The Tigers, though, have two games before it takes place, Thursday at home against Joliet Catholic, and next Tuesday at Plainfield East.

What turned out to be the winning score came with 13:11 left to play as Oswego junior Ryan Totsch grabbed a rebound in a crowd in front of Tiger goalkeeper Jordan Collier (seven saves) and was able to get the shot past him.

The Panthers got an insurance goal about six minutes later as Curtis Grysiewicz got a shot off despite Plainfield North's Thomas DeVaux doing a brilliant job of defending him all the way to the end.

"As a unit, the defense was pretty good. It was sloppy at times, but it cleaned up its mistakes," O'Hara said. "We couldn't possess the ball enough. We always say offense starts with defense, but we could not convert our opportunities from the defense."

Oswego coach Travis Carlisle said Plainfield North was a similar team to that of St. Rita, who the Panthers beat 4-2 on Saturday in Pepsi Showdown play, and that similarity allowed Oswego to continue to use its team speed.

"We were able to get behind them with our speed. Starting in the second half, we tried to keep it a little more of a possession game, try to get more one-on-one opportunities. Curt's goal was like that," Carlisle said. "Plainfield North is a program on the rise. Coach O'Hara does a fantastic job with them and they play a little more of a possession game."

The first half saw a drought on offense for both sides as Oswego led in shots on goal 3-2. The Tigers' Zach Foust stopped a breakaway, and a sure one-on-one chance against Collier, by forcing Jeremy Wine off the play. DeVaux was aggressive on defense from the start, making a couple of strong stops during the first half.

On offense, Plainfield North's Colin Donnally had two of the best scoring chances for the Tigers on the afternoon.

The first came with just under 1:40 left in the first half as his 10-yard shot forced Oswego goalkeeper Eric Salinas (three saves) to make a diving save. About eight minutes into the second half, as Donnally went on a breakaway with Salinas coming out to meet him, Donnally got the ball around Salinas. However, the shot went up and over the net.

Oswego finished the game with a 9-3 shots-on-goal advantage.

On Monday at Lincoln-Way North, Donnally scored as did Tyler Petprachan with assists going to Niko Tapia and Scott Workman. Collier earned his third shutout of the season.