Collier’s auspicious return leads
Plainfield North over Bolingbrook
Senior atones for yellow card with late game-winner
By Derek Wolff
PLAINFIELD — Austin Collier was not supposed to be on the field late in the Monday night nonconference matchup between one-loss teams Bolingbrook and Plainfield North.
The senior striker for the Tigers had been carded earlier in the second half for dissent in a frustrating period when North labored to equalize Bolingbrook's 1-0 lead.
But Collier was given a second chance. After Nick Thompson tied it at 1-1 in the 66th minute, Collier buried the game winner in the 77th minute of to lift the Tigers (13-1-0) to their ninth-straight win.
“We’re most powered when we’re attacking, so when we go down by one it’s easy for us to hop up and go score goals rather than sitting,” said Collier, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match. “Sitting is not good because they can score on any chance.
"I think when we go down and score the first goal that confidence booster, you see everyone in the crowd get on their feet because they know the second goal or the third goal is going to come.
“When we go behind, our mentality switches, and we go into attacking mode. That’s scary, but it’s good.”
As is often the case, Collier’s goal came on a furious North counterattack where the Tigers were able to find spacing up field.
Senior midfielder Alex Lynch delivered a perfect through ball for Collier from midfield, with the latter dribbling into the left side of the 18 before taking Bolingbrook goalkeeper Brandon Murillo on one-on-one.
Collier cut the ball with precision, getting it to dip into the lower right corner for the game winner.
“I made the outside run and curved it and right when I got put in, I knew it was going to be a goal,” he said. “One-on-one with the goalkeeper and he gave me the whole entire right side. Good by Alex, good by the whole team. It was a good team goal.”
Collier’s marker capped off North’s furious comeback after trailing for 60 minutes of play following Bolingbrook's goal on a penalty kick in the sixth minute.
Senior forward Luis Flores pounced to take advantage of a mistake from North defender Ian Aslam, who had tried to make a pass back to goalkeeper Cade Fink inside the box.
Flores intercepted the ball and had an excellent chance to score but was cut down by a dive from Fink, resulting in a penalty kick.
Fink guessed to his right while Flores went the other way to give the Raiders (12-2-3) the early advantage.
Bolingbrook held off North’s vaunted attack for the majority of the first half and only surrendered a few chances, which the Tigers failed to convert.
It was a frustrating first 40 for Collier, who sent a ball over the bar off an attacking run from the right side in the 33rd minute and then repeated the process with the seconds winding down right before halftime off a free kick.
North coach Steve Berry said his side would have to be creative to get past Bolingbrook’s greatest strength, a solid defensive group.
“We knew that their backline was fantastic and their goalkeeper played extremely well, and we were going to have to beat them outside of the way of a long ball,” Berry said. “We needed to have the ball more and have more combinations to do that.”
With the second half underway, Bolingbrook nearly made it 2-0 in the 59th minute on a Flores shot destined for the upper-90 on the near post, but a diving save from Fink pushed it away and the Tigers cleared the ball on the ensuing corner kick.
North built up the pressure leading to Thompson’s 66th minute equalizer by using its speed to get in behind Bolingbrook’s defenders.
Nick Anweiler had an attacking run into the box on the left side in the 62nd and was taken down but the referee ruled play on.
Thompson’s goal four minutes later came from simply deciding to take a shot on net from 25-yards out. The floating strike eluded Murillo to level the game.
“I was going to hit one earlier, and I didn’t get the chance so I kind of just went for it,” Thompson said. “I don’t get to shoot a lot since I play defense and moved to center mid. So I just hit it and hoped for the most of it.”
Collier, who was awarded a yellow card in the 54th minute, got his call to go back in under one condition; he was to shut his mouth and let his play do the talking.
It certainly worked out well.
“I was proud of the way he came back and answered as a leader, as a senior would do and one of our captains,” Berry said.
It was the second time this season that Collier helped cue a late-game comeback. The first came when he scored twice in the final 13 minutes against Plainfield Central to down the Wildcats 2-1 September 8.
Berry said he doesn’t get nervous down a goal late in games and felt that’s reflected among his team.
“We’re going to keep pressing and if the clock runs down the other team deserves to beat us,” he said. “But we do have some weapons that can play from getting around from wide spots and from our central players that can just press players. It becomes that moment of you keep bending but we’re gonna find a way to break it. We really finally did, and we have a player individually that can do that."
It was a tough loss to swallow for Bolingbrook and head coach Jamie Clemmons, who said his side has been playing slightly banged up lately.
“It was a good game,” Clemmons said. “It was a hard-fought battle and our defense played like it has all season. Late in the game we made too many mistakes, gave the ball up and there’s a reason why they’ve scored 50 goals or something this season. They take advantage of their opportunities and they did (tonight).”
North returns to Southwest Prairie Conference play for the rest of the week as it travels to Oswego to play the Panthers on Tuesday and Oswego East on Thursday.
While the Tigers will focus on locking up the conference title, they didn’t look past the achievement Monday night.
“This is a very big game,” Thompson said. “This was like a playoff game for us practically, it was like an elimination game.”
Starting lineups
Bolingbrook
GK Brandon Murillo
D Jacob Perakis
D Tyler Elmore
D Henry Gonzalez
M Jorge Navas
M Victor Morales
M Alan Moscosa
M Ajay Vohra
M Erick Gonzalez
F Luis Flores
F Anguel Sanchez
Plainfield North
GK Cade Fink
D Adam Ratini
D Ian Aslam
D Adam Cartwright
D Patrick Elster
M Alex Lynch
M Mitchell Rathbun
M Jake Farley
F Austin Collier
F Austin Hansen
F Nick Anweiler
Man of the Match: Austin Collier, F, Plainfield North
son and won’t until October.
Plainfield North over Bolingbrook
Senior atones for yellow card with late game-winner
By Derek Wolff
PLAINFIELD — Austin Collier was not supposed to be on the field late in the Monday night nonconference matchup between one-loss teams Bolingbrook and Plainfield North.
The senior striker for the Tigers had been carded earlier in the second half for dissent in a frustrating period when North labored to equalize Bolingbrook's 1-0 lead.
But Collier was given a second chance. After Nick Thompson tied it at 1-1 in the 66th minute, Collier buried the game winner in the 77th minute of to lift the Tigers (13-1-0) to their ninth-straight win.
“We’re most powered when we’re attacking, so when we go down by one it’s easy for us to hop up and go score goals rather than sitting,” said Collier, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match. “Sitting is not good because they can score on any chance.
"I think when we go down and score the first goal that confidence booster, you see everyone in the crowd get on their feet because they know the second goal or the third goal is going to come.
“When we go behind, our mentality switches, and we go into attacking mode. That’s scary, but it’s good.”
As is often the case, Collier’s goal came on a furious North counterattack where the Tigers were able to find spacing up field.
Senior midfielder Alex Lynch delivered a perfect through ball for Collier from midfield, with the latter dribbling into the left side of the 18 before taking Bolingbrook goalkeeper Brandon Murillo on one-on-one.
Collier cut the ball with precision, getting it to dip into the lower right corner for the game winner.
“I made the outside run and curved it and right when I got put in, I knew it was going to be a goal,” he said. “One-on-one with the goalkeeper and he gave me the whole entire right side. Good by Alex, good by the whole team. It was a good team goal.”
Collier’s marker capped off North’s furious comeback after trailing for 60 minutes of play following Bolingbrook's goal on a penalty kick in the sixth minute.
Senior forward Luis Flores pounced to take advantage of a mistake from North defender Ian Aslam, who had tried to make a pass back to goalkeeper Cade Fink inside the box.
Flores intercepted the ball and had an excellent chance to score but was cut down by a dive from Fink, resulting in a penalty kick.
Fink guessed to his right while Flores went the other way to give the Raiders (12-2-3) the early advantage.
Bolingbrook held off North’s vaunted attack for the majority of the first half and only surrendered a few chances, which the Tigers failed to convert.
It was a frustrating first 40 for Collier, who sent a ball over the bar off an attacking run from the right side in the 33rd minute and then repeated the process with the seconds winding down right before halftime off a free kick.
North coach Steve Berry said his side would have to be creative to get past Bolingbrook’s greatest strength, a solid defensive group.
“We knew that their backline was fantastic and their goalkeeper played extremely well, and we were going to have to beat them outside of the way of a long ball,” Berry said. “We needed to have the ball more and have more combinations to do that.”
With the second half underway, Bolingbrook nearly made it 2-0 in the 59th minute on a Flores shot destined for the upper-90 on the near post, but a diving save from Fink pushed it away and the Tigers cleared the ball on the ensuing corner kick.
North built up the pressure leading to Thompson’s 66th minute equalizer by using its speed to get in behind Bolingbrook’s defenders.
Nick Anweiler had an attacking run into the box on the left side in the 62nd and was taken down but the referee ruled play on.
Thompson’s goal four minutes later came from simply deciding to take a shot on net from 25-yards out. The floating strike eluded Murillo to level the game.
“I was going to hit one earlier, and I didn’t get the chance so I kind of just went for it,” Thompson said. “I don’t get to shoot a lot since I play defense and moved to center mid. So I just hit it and hoped for the most of it.”
Collier, who was awarded a yellow card in the 54th minute, got his call to go back in under one condition; he was to shut his mouth and let his play do the talking.
It certainly worked out well.
“I was proud of the way he came back and answered as a leader, as a senior would do and one of our captains,” Berry said.
It was the second time this season that Collier helped cue a late-game comeback. The first came when he scored twice in the final 13 minutes against Plainfield Central to down the Wildcats 2-1 September 8.
Berry said he doesn’t get nervous down a goal late in games and felt that’s reflected among his team.
“We’re going to keep pressing and if the clock runs down the other team deserves to beat us,” he said. “But we do have some weapons that can play from getting around from wide spots and from our central players that can just press players. It becomes that moment of you keep bending but we’re gonna find a way to break it. We really finally did, and we have a player individually that can do that."
It was a tough loss to swallow for Bolingbrook and head coach Jamie Clemmons, who said his side has been playing slightly banged up lately.
“It was a good game,” Clemmons said. “It was a hard-fought battle and our defense played like it has all season. Late in the game we made too many mistakes, gave the ball up and there’s a reason why they’ve scored 50 goals or something this season. They take advantage of their opportunities and they did (tonight).”
North returns to Southwest Prairie Conference play for the rest of the week as it travels to Oswego to play the Panthers on Tuesday and Oswego East on Thursday.
While the Tigers will focus on locking up the conference title, they didn’t look past the achievement Monday night.
“This is a very big game,” Thompson said. “This was like a playoff game for us practically, it was like an elimination game.”
Starting lineups
Bolingbrook
GK Brandon Murillo
D Jacob Perakis
D Tyler Elmore
D Henry Gonzalez
M Jorge Navas
M Victor Morales
M Alan Moscosa
M Ajay Vohra
M Erick Gonzalez
F Luis Flores
F Anguel Sanchez
Plainfield North
GK Cade Fink
D Adam Ratini
D Ian Aslam
D Adam Cartwright
D Patrick Elster
M Alex Lynch
M Mitchell Rathbun
M Jake Farley
F Austin Collier
F Austin Hansen
F Nick Anweiler
Man of the Match: Austin Collier, F, Plainfield North
son and won’t until October.