Tourney tough Plainfield N.
tops Neuqua Valley
PepsiCo finalist wins its Naperville Inv. opener over Wildcats
By Steve Millar
NAPERVILLE -- Thursday marked the beginning of a hectic four days for Plainfield North.
The Tigers don’t have the luxury of looking ahead to Sunday’s PepsiCo Showdown championship game. Before that clash with New Trier, North has to deal with pool play games in the loaded Naperville Invitational.
“We try not to think about it,” North coach Jane Crowe said. “We just want to take it one game at a time. We’ve tried to just continue to get a little bit better every game. We’ve not talked about Sunday’s game much at all, because we knew we had these games to play and if we can put ourselves in a position in this tournament to advance, obviously that’s going to be even better for us.
“It is hard, though, when we’re not done with one tournament and we’re starting another. It makes it hard to know where our focus is.”
Plainfield North's seemed firmly in place Thursday night as they got second half goals from Sam Elster and Erin Chynoweth and handed Neuqua Valley only its second loss of the season with a 2-0 win in their pool-play opener at Naperville Central.
“I’m really excited about the way we’ve been playing lately,” Elster said. “We started out the season kind of slow, but we’ve put some things together, and it’s awesome. We’re playing some of the best soccer we’ve ever played.”
Neuqua Valley (8-2-2) surged at the start of the second half, creating a couple opportunities, including a free kick from 35 yards out that Kiley Czerwinski fired high. Later, North goalkeeper Emma Veselsky made a nice play, punching out a cross to break up a good Wildcats’ chance off a corner.
“I think we ended the first half on a good note,” Crowe said. “We were really putting pressure on. Then we let them come out and kind of control the tempo of the game at the start of the second half. But then we started winning balls and once we got that first goal, I think things started opening up.
The Tigers (10-0-2) got that first goal with 30:30 to go when Megan Breier took a throw-in from 30 yards out and found Elster down the right seam. Elster turned and fired, beating Neuqua goalkeeper Hannah Parrish with a perfectly-placed shot to the far post.
“Meg found me,” said Elster, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match. “She made a good throw to me. I saw I had a girl on my one shoulder, but I was able to turn into the open space to the other side and I got a good shot off and it went in. I was able to shoot for the opposite side because the goalie was at the near post.”
“It was a great turn and a great shot to that far corner,” Crowe said. “I don’t think their keeper even had a chance at it. It was a great shot. That was just a huge play from Sam, who played great the entire game.”
North’s second goal came on a beautiful combination play as Elster played the ball wide to Jessica Christmas, who made a run down the left side of the box and crossed it to the middle, where Chynoweth headed it home.
“Jess made a great run down the line and an even better ball.” Chynoweth said. “I was just trying to get something on it, and I was able to get my head on it.”
For the Tigers, the goal was the perfect example of taking what the defense gives you.
“We wanted to attack the outside, and we were able to get things open on the outside, because they really defend the inside,” Crowe said. “Jess made a great play and Erin had a great finish.
“Two of our captains stepped up and scored two great goals and really gave us a lift when we needed it.”
Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau thought his team did a good job limiting the Tigers’ chances, but credited North with being clinical with their chances.
“We didn’t give them too many opportunities, but they finished a couple they had,” he said. “They had a well-struck ball on that first goal and a nice header on that second, and they defended really well, too.”
The Tigers’ back line of Brooke Polonus, Emily DeVaux, Abby Gustafson and Karsyn Stirrett played exceptionally in front of Veselsky, who made five mostly routine saves to record the shutout.
“We just didn’t give them many chances,” Stirrett said. “We didn’t let them get behind us too much and we just took away their chances.”
That continued even when the Wildcats were desperate late.
“They pushed a ton of numbers up,” Crowe said. “Late in the game, they had two defenders, which you’ve got to do that when you need a goal. I think we did a good job handling all those numbers coming forward and staying composed and staying organized and not giving them great opportunities.”
Neuqua Valley’s best chances to score late came off a corner with just over 12 minutes left – Veselsky saving Dannah Williams’ bouncing header – and a nice combination play with two minutes to go that saw Czerwinski play a ball to Sophia Moreau who found Haley Singer on the right side of the box.
Singer cut in, but fired her shot off the outside of the near post.
Overall, Moreau didn’t think his team did enough to threaten the Tigers’ defense.
“I thought we didn’t work the ball quick enough,” he said. “We kind of forced things a little bit, but part of that was that they defended well. It’s a learning experience for us. It’s April 23, and we haven’t realized we’ve got work the ball quicker. We’ve got to switch the field quicker. We forced it inside way too much. We hope we can learn from this.”
Moreau hopes the Wildcats can rebound quickly. They pool play Friday against Conant.
“We’ve got to play a really tough team in Conant,” he said. “So it’s just turning around right away and playing a similar type of team (as Plainfield North). Jason does a great job with Conant, so we’re going to expect the same type of game in that one, and hopefully we’ll be ready for it.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Emma Veselsky
D: Brooke Polonus
D: Emily DeVaux
D: Abby Gustafson
D: Karsyn Stirrett
MF: Reyse Stirrett
MF: Jessica Christmas
MF: Megan Breier
MF: Natalie Auble
MF: Sam Elster
F: Erin Chynoweth
Neuqua Valley
GK: Hannah Parrish
D: Sophia Moreau
D: Dannah Williams
D: Anna Toersloev
D: Nicole Mondi
MF: Jamie Goralski
MF: Alyssa Bombacino
MF: Lauren Ciesla
MF: Kiley Czerwinski
MF: Veda Tappin
F: Amanda Fenton
MVP of the Match: Sam Elster, MF, Plainfield North
Officials: Kevin Callaghan, Zach Richter, Andrew Sok
tops Neuqua Valley
PepsiCo finalist wins its Naperville Inv. opener over Wildcats
By Steve Millar
NAPERVILLE -- Thursday marked the beginning of a hectic four days for Plainfield North.
The Tigers don’t have the luxury of looking ahead to Sunday’s PepsiCo Showdown championship game. Before that clash with New Trier, North has to deal with pool play games in the loaded Naperville Invitational.
“We try not to think about it,” North coach Jane Crowe said. “We just want to take it one game at a time. We’ve tried to just continue to get a little bit better every game. We’ve not talked about Sunday’s game much at all, because we knew we had these games to play and if we can put ourselves in a position in this tournament to advance, obviously that’s going to be even better for us.
“It is hard, though, when we’re not done with one tournament and we’re starting another. It makes it hard to know where our focus is.”
Plainfield North's seemed firmly in place Thursday night as they got second half goals from Sam Elster and Erin Chynoweth and handed Neuqua Valley only its second loss of the season with a 2-0 win in their pool-play opener at Naperville Central.
“I’m really excited about the way we’ve been playing lately,” Elster said. “We started out the season kind of slow, but we’ve put some things together, and it’s awesome. We’re playing some of the best soccer we’ve ever played.”
Neuqua Valley (8-2-2) surged at the start of the second half, creating a couple opportunities, including a free kick from 35 yards out that Kiley Czerwinski fired high. Later, North goalkeeper Emma Veselsky made a nice play, punching out a cross to break up a good Wildcats’ chance off a corner.
“I think we ended the first half on a good note,” Crowe said. “We were really putting pressure on. Then we let them come out and kind of control the tempo of the game at the start of the second half. But then we started winning balls and once we got that first goal, I think things started opening up.
The Tigers (10-0-2) got that first goal with 30:30 to go when Megan Breier took a throw-in from 30 yards out and found Elster down the right seam. Elster turned and fired, beating Neuqua goalkeeper Hannah Parrish with a perfectly-placed shot to the far post.
“Meg found me,” said Elster, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match. “She made a good throw to me. I saw I had a girl on my one shoulder, but I was able to turn into the open space to the other side and I got a good shot off and it went in. I was able to shoot for the opposite side because the goalie was at the near post.”
“It was a great turn and a great shot to that far corner,” Crowe said. “I don’t think their keeper even had a chance at it. It was a great shot. That was just a huge play from Sam, who played great the entire game.”
North’s second goal came on a beautiful combination play as Elster played the ball wide to Jessica Christmas, who made a run down the left side of the box and crossed it to the middle, where Chynoweth headed it home.
“Jess made a great run down the line and an even better ball.” Chynoweth said. “I was just trying to get something on it, and I was able to get my head on it.”
For the Tigers, the goal was the perfect example of taking what the defense gives you.
“We wanted to attack the outside, and we were able to get things open on the outside, because they really defend the inside,” Crowe said. “Jess made a great play and Erin had a great finish.
“Two of our captains stepped up and scored two great goals and really gave us a lift when we needed it.”
Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau thought his team did a good job limiting the Tigers’ chances, but credited North with being clinical with their chances.
“We didn’t give them too many opportunities, but they finished a couple they had,” he said. “They had a well-struck ball on that first goal and a nice header on that second, and they defended really well, too.”
The Tigers’ back line of Brooke Polonus, Emily DeVaux, Abby Gustafson and Karsyn Stirrett played exceptionally in front of Veselsky, who made five mostly routine saves to record the shutout.
“We just didn’t give them many chances,” Stirrett said. “We didn’t let them get behind us too much and we just took away their chances.”
That continued even when the Wildcats were desperate late.
“They pushed a ton of numbers up,” Crowe said. “Late in the game, they had two defenders, which you’ve got to do that when you need a goal. I think we did a good job handling all those numbers coming forward and staying composed and staying organized and not giving them great opportunities.”
Neuqua Valley’s best chances to score late came off a corner with just over 12 minutes left – Veselsky saving Dannah Williams’ bouncing header – and a nice combination play with two minutes to go that saw Czerwinski play a ball to Sophia Moreau who found Haley Singer on the right side of the box.
Singer cut in, but fired her shot off the outside of the near post.
Overall, Moreau didn’t think his team did enough to threaten the Tigers’ defense.
“I thought we didn’t work the ball quick enough,” he said. “We kind of forced things a little bit, but part of that was that they defended well. It’s a learning experience for us. It’s April 23, and we haven’t realized we’ve got work the ball quicker. We’ve got to switch the field quicker. We forced it inside way too much. We hope we can learn from this.”
Moreau hopes the Wildcats can rebound quickly. They pool play Friday against Conant.
“We’ve got to play a really tough team in Conant,” he said. “So it’s just turning around right away and playing a similar type of team (as Plainfield North). Jason does a great job with Conant, so we’re going to expect the same type of game in that one, and hopefully we’ll be ready for it.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Emma Veselsky
D: Brooke Polonus
D: Emily DeVaux
D: Abby Gustafson
D: Karsyn Stirrett
MF: Reyse Stirrett
MF: Jessica Christmas
MF: Megan Breier
MF: Natalie Auble
MF: Sam Elster
F: Erin Chynoweth
Neuqua Valley
GK: Hannah Parrish
D: Sophia Moreau
D: Dannah Williams
D: Anna Toersloev
D: Nicole Mondi
MF: Jamie Goralski
MF: Alyssa Bombacino
MF: Lauren Ciesla
MF: Kiley Czerwinski
MF: Veda Tappin
F: Amanda Fenton
MVP of the Match: Sam Elster, MF, Plainfield North
Officials: Kevin Callaghan, Zach Richter, Andrew Sok