Senior-less Plainfield N. falls
to Lockport in tournament opener
Seventh-seeded Tigers make early playoff exit
By Steve Millar
LOCKPORT - Plainfield North’s season ended in unfortunate fashion Wednesday night.
Playing senior-less, the Tigers put up a strong fight for most of the Class 3A Lockport Regional semifinal against the host Porters.
Lockport pulled away late for a 4-0 win.
Plainfield North, which finished Its season 13-7-0, knew it would be shorthanded Wednesday after season-ending injuries to senior goalkeepers Megan Donnally and Erin Kuyawa, and senior midfielder Megan Breier, one of the top-five scorers in the program’s history.
The Tigers other three seniors, starters Jessica Christmas, Brittaney Kroll and Melissa Juarez, did not play.
The voids in the lineup gave other players a chance to step up, and coach Jane Crowe was pleased with how several responded.
“We brought up a freshman, Lauryn Tillman, who played a lot in the middle for us,” Crowe said. “We just threw her in there and said ‘Let’s see what she can do.’ And she showed me a lot to be optimistic about. Jenna Christmas, a sophomore, has been a role player for us all year, and she got to play a lot and did really well.
“There were some good things, and it was good for those girls to get that experience, but at the same time it’s not how you want to end the season.”
With the upset of the seventh-seeded Tigers, 11th-seeded Lockport (11-6-3) advances to take on Neuqua Valley, ranked eighth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and seeded second in the sectional, in the regional final at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
The Porters played into a strong wind in the first 40 minutes, but produced the only goal of the half.
It came in the 31st minute when senior Allison Polinski made a series of brilliant moves to elude four defenders before sending a pass to the center of the box. From there freshman Hannah Henson put it in the back of the net.
Henson, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match, was playing in her first varsity game. She added a second half assist as well.
“I was surprised coach (Todd) Elkei brought me up (to varsity),” Henson said. “I was really happy about it, though. I was really nervous when I got in the game, but once we started connecting passes, it felt more natural.”
Elkei had originally planned to use Henson only in practices.
“Every year, we ask JV players to help us scrimmage and get ready for the playoffs,” Elkei said. “Hannah came out all three days, and she was working so hard that I told her I’d reward her with a uniform.”
When senior forward Brooke Janeczek went out with a leg injury in the 14th minute, Elkei turned to Henson.
“I’m looking down the bench, and I see her and I’m like ‘Let’s give it a try,’” Elkei said.
“She comes in and gets the goal. I said a good coach would have had her up a long time ago.”
It was Lockport’s first playoff win since 2013.
“We really wanted to do this for our seniors,” Lockport junior Lauren Pikulski said.
The Tigers had a couple near misses in the half. Lockport goalkeeper Reagan Tompkins made a strong play in the 25th minute, charging out of her net to smother a shot from Molly Grant.
Ann Marie Kruisiewicz fired just high on a shot in the 33rd minute.
Plainfield North junior Victoria Thornton knew the missed opportunities might come back to bite the Tigers.
“Not putting away some of our chances in the first half really hurt us,” she said. “We knew the second half was going to be tougher, especially with the wind. We kept fighting, but at the end, I think fatigue hurt us.”
The Tigers stayed within one goal until 15:18 remained, when Lockport’s Jamie Hansen scored off a corner kick from Aly Fischer.
Pikulski added a pair of insurance goals to close out the scoring.
“We put a lot of pressure on in the first half and even in the second half, against the wind, we were putting pressure on while it was still 1-0,” Crowe said.
“Once they got that second goal, I think that took a lot out of our players. We had girls that aren’t used to being in that position and probably didn’t have a lot of confidence going in, anyway, knowing the players that were missing.”
The Tigers also played the second half without Grant, who suffered a leg injury late in the first half. She had been the team’s top offensive threat to that point.
“That was another tough loss,” Crowe said. “We moved Victoria Thornton to forward in the second half and if we kept her in the middle, I don’t think we would have lost 4-0, but we had to take a chance.”
Plainfield North fit in with the best teams in the area this season. The Tigers held a spot among the top 40 teams listed by the Chicagoland Soccer poll every week. They posted their best rank at no. 16 after the first week of the season.
Despite the disappointing end, Thornton said she had many good memories to look back on, as well as a lot to look forward to.
“This year was really fun,” she said. “I had a lot of good players that I was able to play alongside of. I think I improved a lot as a player. It was a good year.
“We have a lot of good freshmen and sophomores and we have good freshmen coming in. I’m excited about our team, and I’m excited to be a leader of the team next year.”
Crowe left her players with a positive message, as well.
“We lost a ton of seniors last year and we knew there’d be a lot of a growing process this year,” she said. “We pulled out some big overtime wins in conference. We battled with some great teams all season.
“It’s hard for it to end like this, but I can’t fault the girls that were on the field (Wednesday). They all played hard.”
Starting lineups
Lockport
GK: Reagan Tompkins
D: Sylvia Kordaczka
D: Jamie Hansen
D: Madisyn Hannion
MF: Finley Travis
MF: Aly Fischer
MF: Allison Polinski
MF: Stephanie Quigley
MF: Lauren Pikulski
F: Brooke Janeczek
F: Jennifer Latoza
Plainfield North
GK: Ashley Clark
D: Meghan Budds
D: Sielle Bartz
D: Makenna Woodill
D: Payton Strausberger
MF: Jenna Christmas
MF: Ann Marie Krusiewicz
MF: Trinity Grimes
MF: Victoria Thornton
F: Molly Grant
F: Daelyn Thompson
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Hannah Henson, fr., F, Lockport
to Lockport in tournament opener
Seventh-seeded Tigers make early playoff exit
By Steve Millar
LOCKPORT - Plainfield North’s season ended in unfortunate fashion Wednesday night.
Playing senior-less, the Tigers put up a strong fight for most of the Class 3A Lockport Regional semifinal against the host Porters.
Lockport pulled away late for a 4-0 win.
Plainfield North, which finished Its season 13-7-0, knew it would be shorthanded Wednesday after season-ending injuries to senior goalkeepers Megan Donnally and Erin Kuyawa, and senior midfielder Megan Breier, one of the top-five scorers in the program’s history.
The Tigers other three seniors, starters Jessica Christmas, Brittaney Kroll and Melissa Juarez, did not play.
The voids in the lineup gave other players a chance to step up, and coach Jane Crowe was pleased with how several responded.
“We brought up a freshman, Lauryn Tillman, who played a lot in the middle for us,” Crowe said. “We just threw her in there and said ‘Let’s see what she can do.’ And she showed me a lot to be optimistic about. Jenna Christmas, a sophomore, has been a role player for us all year, and she got to play a lot and did really well.
“There were some good things, and it was good for those girls to get that experience, but at the same time it’s not how you want to end the season.”
With the upset of the seventh-seeded Tigers, 11th-seeded Lockport (11-6-3) advances to take on Neuqua Valley, ranked eighth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and seeded second in the sectional, in the regional final at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
The Porters played into a strong wind in the first 40 minutes, but produced the only goal of the half.
It came in the 31st minute when senior Allison Polinski made a series of brilliant moves to elude four defenders before sending a pass to the center of the box. From there freshman Hannah Henson put it in the back of the net.
Henson, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match, was playing in her first varsity game. She added a second half assist as well.
“I was surprised coach (Todd) Elkei brought me up (to varsity),” Henson said. “I was really happy about it, though. I was really nervous when I got in the game, but once we started connecting passes, it felt more natural.”
Elkei had originally planned to use Henson only in practices.
“Every year, we ask JV players to help us scrimmage and get ready for the playoffs,” Elkei said. “Hannah came out all three days, and she was working so hard that I told her I’d reward her with a uniform.”
When senior forward Brooke Janeczek went out with a leg injury in the 14th minute, Elkei turned to Henson.
“I’m looking down the bench, and I see her and I’m like ‘Let’s give it a try,’” Elkei said.
“She comes in and gets the goal. I said a good coach would have had her up a long time ago.”
It was Lockport’s first playoff win since 2013.
“We really wanted to do this for our seniors,” Lockport junior Lauren Pikulski said.
The Tigers had a couple near misses in the half. Lockport goalkeeper Reagan Tompkins made a strong play in the 25th minute, charging out of her net to smother a shot from Molly Grant.
Ann Marie Kruisiewicz fired just high on a shot in the 33rd minute.
Plainfield North junior Victoria Thornton knew the missed opportunities might come back to bite the Tigers.
“Not putting away some of our chances in the first half really hurt us,” she said. “We knew the second half was going to be tougher, especially with the wind. We kept fighting, but at the end, I think fatigue hurt us.”
The Tigers stayed within one goal until 15:18 remained, when Lockport’s Jamie Hansen scored off a corner kick from Aly Fischer.
Pikulski added a pair of insurance goals to close out the scoring.
“We put a lot of pressure on in the first half and even in the second half, against the wind, we were putting pressure on while it was still 1-0,” Crowe said.
“Once they got that second goal, I think that took a lot out of our players. We had girls that aren’t used to being in that position and probably didn’t have a lot of confidence going in, anyway, knowing the players that were missing.”
The Tigers also played the second half without Grant, who suffered a leg injury late in the first half. She had been the team’s top offensive threat to that point.
“That was another tough loss,” Crowe said. “We moved Victoria Thornton to forward in the second half and if we kept her in the middle, I don’t think we would have lost 4-0, but we had to take a chance.”
Plainfield North fit in with the best teams in the area this season. The Tigers held a spot among the top 40 teams listed by the Chicagoland Soccer poll every week. They posted their best rank at no. 16 after the first week of the season.
Despite the disappointing end, Thornton said she had many good memories to look back on, as well as a lot to look forward to.
“This year was really fun,” she said. “I had a lot of good players that I was able to play alongside of. I think I improved a lot as a player. It was a good year.
“We have a lot of good freshmen and sophomores and we have good freshmen coming in. I’m excited about our team, and I’m excited to be a leader of the team next year.”
Crowe left her players with a positive message, as well.
“We lost a ton of seniors last year and we knew there’d be a lot of a growing process this year,” she said. “We pulled out some big overtime wins in conference. We battled with some great teams all season.
“It’s hard for it to end like this, but I can’t fault the girls that were on the field (Wednesday). They all played hard.”
Starting lineups
Lockport
GK: Reagan Tompkins
D: Sylvia Kordaczka
D: Jamie Hansen
D: Madisyn Hannion
MF: Finley Travis
MF: Aly Fischer
MF: Allison Polinski
MF: Stephanie Quigley
MF: Lauren Pikulski
F: Brooke Janeczek
F: Jennifer Latoza
Plainfield North
GK: Ashley Clark
D: Meghan Budds
D: Sielle Bartz
D: Makenna Woodill
D: Payton Strausberger
MF: Jenna Christmas
MF: Ann Marie Krusiewicz
MF: Trinity Grimes
MF: Victoria Thornton
F: Molly Grant
F: Daelyn Thompson
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Hannah Henson, fr., F, Lockport