Collier comes up big, late goals
lift Plainfield North over Central
Turnaround gives Tigers win in Southwest Prairie opener
By Derek Wolff
PLAINFIELD — For a few moments, Austin Collier was at a loss of words trying to recall how he scored his second goal.
It slipped his mind, just as his no. 12 Tigers (7-1-0, 1-0-0 Southwest Prairie Conference) slipped past host Plainfield Central 2-1 late on Tuesday afternoon on the strength of his 77th-minute goal.
With North pressing hard after scoring the equalizer nine minutes earlier, a scrum ensued inside the Wildcats box with Collier finally getting a foot on the ball and booming it in the net.
“Hard work by everyone to get the ball there, and I was lucky to be where I was,” said Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match. “I shot it as hard as I could, and it went in.”
It quickly flipped the script on what had been a marvelous performance from Central’s back line that frustrated the Tigers vaunted attack for most of the match.
With Plainfield North down 1-0 in the 68th minute, senior forward Mitchell Rathbun made an attacking run from midfield towards the Wildcats box. He lost control of the ball, and it slid out to Collier. The ensuing ground shot curved in at the far post for the equalizer.
“All I know is there was so much space in the middle because their defensive line was really far back by the box,” Rathbun said. “There were two guys behind me, but I was faster than them. I tried to take it through another guy actually by the box and the ball ricocheted off him right to Austin, so I was a bit lucky.”
After rain poured down earlier in the afternoon, pitch conditions weren’t great, but the match was played rain free.
Plainfield Central controlled the sloppy opening half, garnering a few chances before finally converting in the 27th minute.
Gustavo Sanchez scored on a looping header that floated over Tigers goalkeeper Cade Fink following a throw-in to break the scoreless deadlock.
Forward Max Woodward nearly made it 2-0 in the 35th minute when he took a through-ball that beat the defense into the left side of the 18.
Fink came out to cut off the angle and was able to deflect the shot wide for a corner kick, which the Wildcats failed to convert.
Central controlled the rest of the half, then goaded frustrated North forward Austin Hansen into taking a yellow card for shoving an opponent three minutes into the second half.
“First half, we were pretty lethargic,” Rathbun said. “We were losing every header in the center. Second half, when we put Jake (Farley) in the back he was winning every header, being big for us back there. In the center we were starting to pick it up a lot, starting to get the ball on the ground instead of hitting it in the air where they kept winning it at the back.
“We started to get it down, get it to the wings, and I think they started to fall asleep a little in the back after their success in the first half. We capitalized on it.”
The Tigers had just two shots on net in the first half. Slowly but surely they found their form in the second, but lacked quality scoring chances until the final 15 minutes.
“It’s always tough to come and play on a field that’s wide that gets you into more congestion,” Plainfield North coach Steve Berry said. “We knew it was just a matter of time before we threatened the goal a little bit better. Their goalkeeper was good and made some good saves. We also hit a lot of them where he was comfortable and that made him more confident.”
Berry credited Collier with staying composed through frustrations, like when he missed a free kick from the edge of the 18 by a few inches over the bar in the 61st minute.
Plainfield Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald was disappointed with the end result after watching his defense play what was largely one of their best efforts of the season.
“We got winded. The plan wasn’t to defend, defend, defend. I know they’ve got 45 goals in seven games; they’ll tell you all about it, if you ask them,” Fitzgerald joked.
“We didn’t want to sit back and defend; you can’t defend for 40 minutes against a team like that and hope to keep them at zero. So no, it was pretty much a matter of us getting winded and panicking and kicking the ball. That only wears you out further because then you’re just chasing.”
Woodward’s efforts had Plainfield North in disarray early and gave the Wildcats confidence moving forward in what could be a learning experience for a young team.
“Our effort was outstanding,” Fitzgerald said. “I thought our defenders did very well. You’ve got a high powered attack; you’ve got Collier out there. They’re very good. They’ve got a bunch of kids out there that have played together that are skilled, and the speed, it’s tough. It’s tough to deal with. For the most part our defenders dealt with it very well.”
It was the second-straight close result for the Tigers against a rival team. Collier said the team needs to prepare better in the future to reach its goals.
“I honestly think coming out the same way every game is important,” Collier said. “This game I knew we were going to come out not strong; from our warmup we were lackadaisical. Going into the first half it was not good, so I think what we need to do is come out 100% stronger each time.”
“Getting ourselves in that situation where it’s 1-0 at the half is not what we want to do.”
His coach agreed, saying that his club still hadn’t played a complete 80-minute game on both sides of the ball.
“We know that in conference games everyone is going to have a target on our back,” Berry said. “You get into these conference games, these close games where a lot of them have played with each other, club wise. There’re targets, and we have to figure out how to play with a target and not be the one to chase the game.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Cade Fink
D Adam Ratini
D Alex Lynch
D Nick Thompson
D Ian Aslam
M Patrick Elster
M Jake Farley
M Nick Anweiler
F Austin Collier
F Mitchell Rathbun
F Austin Hansen
Plainfield Central
GK Shane Badertscher
D Ish Contreras
D Phillip Garcia
D Ulices Garcia
D Matthew Geib
M Jarod Petrovic
M Joshua De Avila
M Gustavo Sanchez
F Joel Sanchez
F Edgar Caldenas
F Max Woodward
Man of the Match: Austin Collier, F, Plainfield North
lift Plainfield North over Central
Turnaround gives Tigers win in Southwest Prairie opener
By Derek Wolff
PLAINFIELD — For a few moments, Austin Collier was at a loss of words trying to recall how he scored his second goal.
It slipped his mind, just as his no. 12 Tigers (7-1-0, 1-0-0 Southwest Prairie Conference) slipped past host Plainfield Central 2-1 late on Tuesday afternoon on the strength of his 77th-minute goal.
With North pressing hard after scoring the equalizer nine minutes earlier, a scrum ensued inside the Wildcats box with Collier finally getting a foot on the ball and booming it in the net.
“Hard work by everyone to get the ball there, and I was lucky to be where I was,” said Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match. “I shot it as hard as I could, and it went in.”
It quickly flipped the script on what had been a marvelous performance from Central’s back line that frustrated the Tigers vaunted attack for most of the match.
With Plainfield North down 1-0 in the 68th minute, senior forward Mitchell Rathbun made an attacking run from midfield towards the Wildcats box. He lost control of the ball, and it slid out to Collier. The ensuing ground shot curved in at the far post for the equalizer.
“All I know is there was so much space in the middle because their defensive line was really far back by the box,” Rathbun said. “There were two guys behind me, but I was faster than them. I tried to take it through another guy actually by the box and the ball ricocheted off him right to Austin, so I was a bit lucky.”
After rain poured down earlier in the afternoon, pitch conditions weren’t great, but the match was played rain free.
Plainfield Central controlled the sloppy opening half, garnering a few chances before finally converting in the 27th minute.
Gustavo Sanchez scored on a looping header that floated over Tigers goalkeeper Cade Fink following a throw-in to break the scoreless deadlock.
Forward Max Woodward nearly made it 2-0 in the 35th minute when he took a through-ball that beat the defense into the left side of the 18.
Fink came out to cut off the angle and was able to deflect the shot wide for a corner kick, which the Wildcats failed to convert.
Central controlled the rest of the half, then goaded frustrated North forward Austin Hansen into taking a yellow card for shoving an opponent three minutes into the second half.
“First half, we were pretty lethargic,” Rathbun said. “We were losing every header in the center. Second half, when we put Jake (Farley) in the back he was winning every header, being big for us back there. In the center we were starting to pick it up a lot, starting to get the ball on the ground instead of hitting it in the air where they kept winning it at the back.
“We started to get it down, get it to the wings, and I think they started to fall asleep a little in the back after their success in the first half. We capitalized on it.”
The Tigers had just two shots on net in the first half. Slowly but surely they found their form in the second, but lacked quality scoring chances until the final 15 minutes.
“It’s always tough to come and play on a field that’s wide that gets you into more congestion,” Plainfield North coach Steve Berry said. “We knew it was just a matter of time before we threatened the goal a little bit better. Their goalkeeper was good and made some good saves. We also hit a lot of them where he was comfortable and that made him more confident.”
Berry credited Collier with staying composed through frustrations, like when he missed a free kick from the edge of the 18 by a few inches over the bar in the 61st minute.
Plainfield Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald was disappointed with the end result after watching his defense play what was largely one of their best efforts of the season.
“We got winded. The plan wasn’t to defend, defend, defend. I know they’ve got 45 goals in seven games; they’ll tell you all about it, if you ask them,” Fitzgerald joked.
“We didn’t want to sit back and defend; you can’t defend for 40 minutes against a team like that and hope to keep them at zero. So no, it was pretty much a matter of us getting winded and panicking and kicking the ball. That only wears you out further because then you’re just chasing.”
Woodward’s efforts had Plainfield North in disarray early and gave the Wildcats confidence moving forward in what could be a learning experience for a young team.
“Our effort was outstanding,” Fitzgerald said. “I thought our defenders did very well. You’ve got a high powered attack; you’ve got Collier out there. They’re very good. They’ve got a bunch of kids out there that have played together that are skilled, and the speed, it’s tough. It’s tough to deal with. For the most part our defenders dealt with it very well.”
It was the second-straight close result for the Tigers against a rival team. Collier said the team needs to prepare better in the future to reach its goals.
“I honestly think coming out the same way every game is important,” Collier said. “This game I knew we were going to come out not strong; from our warmup we were lackadaisical. Going into the first half it was not good, so I think what we need to do is come out 100% stronger each time.”
“Getting ourselves in that situation where it’s 1-0 at the half is not what we want to do.”
His coach agreed, saying that his club still hadn’t played a complete 80-minute game on both sides of the ball.
“We know that in conference games everyone is going to have a target on our back,” Berry said. “You get into these conference games, these close games where a lot of them have played with each other, club wise. There’re targets, and we have to figure out how to play with a target and not be the one to chase the game.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Cade Fink
D Adam Ratini
D Alex Lynch
D Nick Thompson
D Ian Aslam
M Patrick Elster
M Jake Farley
M Nick Anweiler
F Austin Collier
F Mitchell Rathbun
F Austin Hansen
Plainfield Central
GK Shane Badertscher
D Ish Contreras
D Phillip Garcia
D Ulices Garcia
D Matthew Geib
M Jarod Petrovic
M Joshua De Avila
M Gustavo Sanchez
F Joel Sanchez
F Edgar Caldenas
F Max Woodward
Man of the Match: Austin Collier, F, Plainfield North