Plainfield South’s 5 shutouts equal
Rosary Invitational championship
Cougars have chance to double their trophy pleasure Sunday
By Steve Nemeth
AURORA -- Three quick sideline photos were pretty much the extent of Plainfield South’s celebration with the championship trophy from Saturday’s Rosary Invitational.
Don’t misconstrue the subdued jubilation for a lack of joy or achievement, it’s just that the Cougars are focused on a combination of adding to their historical success and saving as much energy as possible for a rare “double” opportunity on Sunday (April 23).
Five victories by shutout – three in pool play plus the championship bracket semifinal and title match – have boosted South’s current victory streak to 10. That’s the latter portion of having won 14 of the last 15 outings.
The last of which finished less than 23 hours before the Cougars are back on the field for an even rarer achievement -- back-to-back championships. Plainfield South plays for the Girls in the Game title, one of five finals on the line in the 2017 edition of the PepsiCo Showdown. The 2 p.m. tussle with Chicagoland Soccer’s current no. 22-ranked squad, West Aurora, is the fourth of five finals contested as an exception to the IHSA’s no Sunday competition philosophy.
Could the Cougars possibly capture tourney championship hardware on back-to-back days? At 14-3-0 is South simply overlooked or is the lack of a ranking evidence of how hard it is to crack Chicagoland Soccer’s list?
Perhaps the answer to those two questions depends on Plainfield South’s ability for revenge. The Cougars began the year with a 2-1 loss to West Aurora, which just vaulted from no ranking to inclusion in the poll. A Saturday 7-0 home whitewash of Bolingbrook boosts the Blackhawks’ streak to 13 and a 13-1-0 ledger since opening 2017 with a 2-1 road loss to well-regarded Wheaton Academy.
“Being in a tournament final hasn’t happened too often in our program, and being able to win two on back-to-back days has never happened, so this possibility happening makes my senior year extra special,” tri-captain Shelby Bishop noted after the Rosary Invitational final. “Everything we’ve done and plan to do, goes back to last season when we did not have the kind of outcomes we wanted. Some folks may not believe how much work we’ve put into this year.”
Of course skeptics might be tempted to devalue the Rosary event because of its unique, one-day tourney structure based on 40-minute games that consist of 20-minute halves with a one-minute intermission.
“All I know is it feels like the intensity increases, suddenly there’s less time to size up an opponent, build an attack, or negate a mistake,” Miranda Nirchi said.
Of course Plainfield South’s offense spearheaded by Nirchi -- the consensus Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match -- has always managed to produce and the defense working in conjunction with goalies Nicole Trenholm and Jami Maloney never made the kind of error which showed on the scoreboard.
The five tournament clean sheets give South six straight and 11 for the season.
“If you do allow a goal, you simply can’t let that affect how you play. It simply means you have to play even better,” Trenholm explained. “Maybe that’s why the shutouts feel like you’ve accomplished more.”
With the invitational’s initial pool play games starting at an eye-opening 8 a.m., the shortened halves didn’t allow for any sleepy play. In Plainfield South’s case, the Cougars’ first foe at 8:50 a.m. may not be a household name in this area, but down south Mahomet-Seymour has a well-earned reputation for success and winning records.
Whereas Plainfield South has never won a state plaque, the Bulldogs are aiming for a fourth-consecutive regional title at the Class 2A level. If that happens, it’ll be the school’s seventh overall with six occurring under current skipper Joey Gruner. Some 117 miles south just outside Champaign, Mahomet-Seymour entered the invitational with an 8-0-1 record for a nine-game unbeaten string that was better than the Cougars’ five in a row.
Plainfield South’s 1-0 triumph was the result of Lindsey Bond setting up Nirchi for a first half strike.
“Their defense had a bad touch and the pass allowed me to dribble by one defender to a point where I saw their keeper off her line enough for me to slip the ball in to my left,” Nirchi recalled.
Plainfield South was one of two teams in the Rosary Pool – like two from the IMSA Pool – saddled with having back-to-back matches. In the Cougars’ case, the second foe was the host Royals, but a Nirchi strike within the first 30 seconds was also turned into a 1-0 win. Bond again earned the assist.
“Lindsey was bringing the ball on the left side. I made a run down the right side, and she gave me a great cross that I was able to one-time into the upper 90,” Nirchi said.
Mahomet-Seymour sandwiched 2-0 victories over Harlem and Rosary around Plainfield South’s 1-0 pool play conquest of Harlem. Nirchi notched her seventh assist for the season in that outing as the senior tri-captain set up Gianna Dodaro for a 19-yarder from the left wing that rolled inside the right post. That goal came with just 1:20 left before the final whistle to avert a possible tie.
“Actually I was a little afraid I might miss but seeing the ball inside the goal was an awesome feeling,” Dodaro said in regard to her 10th goal of the year. “It all seemed to happen so quickly. I looked up and saw their keeper by the near post so I went far post with the shot. It felt like a solid strike, but at one point I was worried she’d make a diving save, but she didn’t even move.”
Final pool play standings were determined by a combination of won-loss-tie results coupled with a scoring system crediting six points for a win, three points for a tie, one point for a shutout, plus one point for each goal up to a maximum of three points. However, 0-0 ties did not earn a shutout point.
Plainfield South ruled the Rosary Pool with a tourney-high 24 points followed by Mahomet-Seymour at 18, Harlem with eight, and the host Royals with zero. Aurora Central Catholic was 2-0-1 and was atop the IMSA Pool with 19 points, just ahead of Joliet Catholic (2-1-0) with 18 while Hononegah (1-1-1) was third with 12 points and IMSA (0-3-0) was scoreless.
Those results put the Cougars in the championship bracket’s first semifinal against a familiar foe in Joliet Catholic. Back on March 28, Joliet Catholic was a Plainfield South victim to the tune of 2-0. This time the Angels were blanked 3-0.
Dodaro got an assist when her cannon shot was fumbled by the Joliet Catholic goalie, and Nirchi pounced for the putback just 41 seconds after the start. Just under eight minutes later, Taylor Metcalf’s through-ball enabled Dodaro to dribble around the keeper for an eight-yarder.
The majority of the Angels’ attempts either sailed high or wide. However, there was one exception midway through the second half but defender, Bond absorbed a rocket shot. Joliet Catholic also had a direct free kick from distance that glanced off the top of the crossbar.
With 1:48 left, Bishop – a St. Xavier signee – stole the ball in front of the Plainfield South goal and proceeded to zigzag through the Angels’ midfield and defense before setting up Metcalf for an 11-yarder from the left side that was tucked past the keeper but inside the left post.
Although Aurora Central earned its semifinal berth as a pool champion, Mahomet-Seymour took advantage of the opportunity earned as runner-up to still advance to the championship for a rematch. The Bulldogs scored just after the opening whistle and then kept the Chargers’ (6-3-2) in check.
The opening half of the finale was scoreless, but still costly to the Cougars. Both Isabel Cerda and Christina Schade had to watch the final 20 minutes with ice bags combating painful injuries.
Plainfield South began to dominant offensively and the attack paid off with 8:57 still to be played. That’s when another Dodaro laser squirted away from the Bulldog goalie and Nirchi’s follow-up found the back of the net.
“The biggest reason for the trophy today was effort,” said Plainfield South coach Alfonso Lopez. “Five games and five shutouts doesn’t happen without a big effort by everyone. Knowing we have a big game tomorrow, we wanted to try to conserve as much energy as possible, and that was the case thanks to a team effort. We really did play as a team today and even with a lot of subbing, we developed a better feel for each other.
“Obviously Miranda came up big again. Gianna had two goals and is a great talent, Gianna Derka hustles every game, and today was no different,” Lopez added.
So what factors do the Cougars believe have led to putting them within one victory of tying the school’s single-season record for wins?
“Maybe the number of games (seven in a four-day span) would bother some teams, but we’ve got a good rotation going, and it’s part of our desire to prove to everyone how hard we’ve worked,” Nirchi said. “We want to be remembered for our work ethic, dedication, love for the game, as well as the victories.”
“We’re especially proud that South hasn’t had this good of a team,” Dodaro added. “We want to keep adding wins, be it this streak or one in the postseason.”
“We are dedicated and ready to go,” Trenholm concluded.
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Tournament: Miranda Nirchi, sr., MF, Plainfield South
Rosary Invitational
(20-minute halves for all matches)
Rosary Pool results
Harlem 1, Rosary 0
Plainfield South 1, Mahomet-Seymour 0
Plainfield South 1, Rosary 0
Mahomet-Seymour 2, Harlem 0
Plainfield South 1, Harlem 0
Mahomet-Seymour 2, Rosary 0
Win-6 points; tie-3 points; shutout-1 point; 1 point per goal, 3 max)
Rosary Pool standings
W-L-T Pts
Plainfield South 3-0-0 24
Mahomet-Seymour 2-1-0 18
Harlem 1-2-0 8
Rosary 0-3-0 0
IMSA Pool results
Aurora Central 1, IMSA 0
Joliet Catholic 1, Hononegah 0
Joliet Catholic 3, IMSA 0
Aurora Central 0, Hononegah 0
Aurora Central 1, Joliet Catholic 0
Hononegah 2, IMSA 0
IMSA Pool standings
W-L-T Pts
Aurora Central 2-0-1 19
Joliet Catholic 2-1-0 18
Hononegah 1-1-1 12
IMSA 0-3-0 0
Championship bracket
Plainfield South 3, Joliet Catholic 0
Mahomet-Seymour 1, Aurora Central 0
Plainfield South 1, Mahomet-Seymour 0 (title)
Consolation bracket
Hononegah 0, Rosary 0 (Hononegah wins PKs 4-3)
Harlem 2, IMSA 0
Harlem 2, Hononegah 0 (title)
Tournament MVP: Miranda Nirchi
Championship game summary
Plainfield South 1, Mahomet-Seymour 0
1st 2nd F Records
Plainfield South 1 0 1 14-3-0
Mahomet-Seymour 0 0 0 11-2-1
Scoring summary
PS --- Nirchi five-yard finish after keeper fumble (Dodaro assist), 32nd minute
Rosary Invitational championship
Cougars have chance to double their trophy pleasure Sunday
By Steve Nemeth
AURORA -- Three quick sideline photos were pretty much the extent of Plainfield South’s celebration with the championship trophy from Saturday’s Rosary Invitational.
Don’t misconstrue the subdued jubilation for a lack of joy or achievement, it’s just that the Cougars are focused on a combination of adding to their historical success and saving as much energy as possible for a rare “double” opportunity on Sunday (April 23).
Five victories by shutout – three in pool play plus the championship bracket semifinal and title match – have boosted South’s current victory streak to 10. That’s the latter portion of having won 14 of the last 15 outings.
The last of which finished less than 23 hours before the Cougars are back on the field for an even rarer achievement -- back-to-back championships. Plainfield South plays for the Girls in the Game title, one of five finals on the line in the 2017 edition of the PepsiCo Showdown. The 2 p.m. tussle with Chicagoland Soccer’s current no. 22-ranked squad, West Aurora, is the fourth of five finals contested as an exception to the IHSA’s no Sunday competition philosophy.
Could the Cougars possibly capture tourney championship hardware on back-to-back days? At 14-3-0 is South simply overlooked or is the lack of a ranking evidence of how hard it is to crack Chicagoland Soccer’s list?
Perhaps the answer to those two questions depends on Plainfield South’s ability for revenge. The Cougars began the year with a 2-1 loss to West Aurora, which just vaulted from no ranking to inclusion in the poll. A Saturday 7-0 home whitewash of Bolingbrook boosts the Blackhawks’ streak to 13 and a 13-1-0 ledger since opening 2017 with a 2-1 road loss to well-regarded Wheaton Academy.
“Being in a tournament final hasn’t happened too often in our program, and being able to win two on back-to-back days has never happened, so this possibility happening makes my senior year extra special,” tri-captain Shelby Bishop noted after the Rosary Invitational final. “Everything we’ve done and plan to do, goes back to last season when we did not have the kind of outcomes we wanted. Some folks may not believe how much work we’ve put into this year.”
Of course skeptics might be tempted to devalue the Rosary event because of its unique, one-day tourney structure based on 40-minute games that consist of 20-minute halves with a one-minute intermission.
“All I know is it feels like the intensity increases, suddenly there’s less time to size up an opponent, build an attack, or negate a mistake,” Miranda Nirchi said.
Of course Plainfield South’s offense spearheaded by Nirchi -- the consensus Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match -- has always managed to produce and the defense working in conjunction with goalies Nicole Trenholm and Jami Maloney never made the kind of error which showed on the scoreboard.
The five tournament clean sheets give South six straight and 11 for the season.
“If you do allow a goal, you simply can’t let that affect how you play. It simply means you have to play even better,” Trenholm explained. “Maybe that’s why the shutouts feel like you’ve accomplished more.”
With the invitational’s initial pool play games starting at an eye-opening 8 a.m., the shortened halves didn’t allow for any sleepy play. In Plainfield South’s case, the Cougars’ first foe at 8:50 a.m. may not be a household name in this area, but down south Mahomet-Seymour has a well-earned reputation for success and winning records.
Whereas Plainfield South has never won a state plaque, the Bulldogs are aiming for a fourth-consecutive regional title at the Class 2A level. If that happens, it’ll be the school’s seventh overall with six occurring under current skipper Joey Gruner. Some 117 miles south just outside Champaign, Mahomet-Seymour entered the invitational with an 8-0-1 record for a nine-game unbeaten string that was better than the Cougars’ five in a row.
Plainfield South’s 1-0 triumph was the result of Lindsey Bond setting up Nirchi for a first half strike.
“Their defense had a bad touch and the pass allowed me to dribble by one defender to a point where I saw their keeper off her line enough for me to slip the ball in to my left,” Nirchi recalled.
Plainfield South was one of two teams in the Rosary Pool – like two from the IMSA Pool – saddled with having back-to-back matches. In the Cougars’ case, the second foe was the host Royals, but a Nirchi strike within the first 30 seconds was also turned into a 1-0 win. Bond again earned the assist.
“Lindsey was bringing the ball on the left side. I made a run down the right side, and she gave me a great cross that I was able to one-time into the upper 90,” Nirchi said.
Mahomet-Seymour sandwiched 2-0 victories over Harlem and Rosary around Plainfield South’s 1-0 pool play conquest of Harlem. Nirchi notched her seventh assist for the season in that outing as the senior tri-captain set up Gianna Dodaro for a 19-yarder from the left wing that rolled inside the right post. That goal came with just 1:20 left before the final whistle to avert a possible tie.
“Actually I was a little afraid I might miss but seeing the ball inside the goal was an awesome feeling,” Dodaro said in regard to her 10th goal of the year. “It all seemed to happen so quickly. I looked up and saw their keeper by the near post so I went far post with the shot. It felt like a solid strike, but at one point I was worried she’d make a diving save, but she didn’t even move.”
Final pool play standings were determined by a combination of won-loss-tie results coupled with a scoring system crediting six points for a win, three points for a tie, one point for a shutout, plus one point for each goal up to a maximum of three points. However, 0-0 ties did not earn a shutout point.
Plainfield South ruled the Rosary Pool with a tourney-high 24 points followed by Mahomet-Seymour at 18, Harlem with eight, and the host Royals with zero. Aurora Central Catholic was 2-0-1 and was atop the IMSA Pool with 19 points, just ahead of Joliet Catholic (2-1-0) with 18 while Hononegah (1-1-1) was third with 12 points and IMSA (0-3-0) was scoreless.
Those results put the Cougars in the championship bracket’s first semifinal against a familiar foe in Joliet Catholic. Back on March 28, Joliet Catholic was a Plainfield South victim to the tune of 2-0. This time the Angels were blanked 3-0.
Dodaro got an assist when her cannon shot was fumbled by the Joliet Catholic goalie, and Nirchi pounced for the putback just 41 seconds after the start. Just under eight minutes later, Taylor Metcalf’s through-ball enabled Dodaro to dribble around the keeper for an eight-yarder.
The majority of the Angels’ attempts either sailed high or wide. However, there was one exception midway through the second half but defender, Bond absorbed a rocket shot. Joliet Catholic also had a direct free kick from distance that glanced off the top of the crossbar.
With 1:48 left, Bishop – a St. Xavier signee – stole the ball in front of the Plainfield South goal and proceeded to zigzag through the Angels’ midfield and defense before setting up Metcalf for an 11-yarder from the left side that was tucked past the keeper but inside the left post.
Although Aurora Central earned its semifinal berth as a pool champion, Mahomet-Seymour took advantage of the opportunity earned as runner-up to still advance to the championship for a rematch. The Bulldogs scored just after the opening whistle and then kept the Chargers’ (6-3-2) in check.
The opening half of the finale was scoreless, but still costly to the Cougars. Both Isabel Cerda and Christina Schade had to watch the final 20 minutes with ice bags combating painful injuries.
Plainfield South began to dominant offensively and the attack paid off with 8:57 still to be played. That’s when another Dodaro laser squirted away from the Bulldog goalie and Nirchi’s follow-up found the back of the net.
“The biggest reason for the trophy today was effort,” said Plainfield South coach Alfonso Lopez. “Five games and five shutouts doesn’t happen without a big effort by everyone. Knowing we have a big game tomorrow, we wanted to try to conserve as much energy as possible, and that was the case thanks to a team effort. We really did play as a team today and even with a lot of subbing, we developed a better feel for each other.
“Obviously Miranda came up big again. Gianna had two goals and is a great talent, Gianna Derka hustles every game, and today was no different,” Lopez added.
So what factors do the Cougars believe have led to putting them within one victory of tying the school’s single-season record for wins?
“Maybe the number of games (seven in a four-day span) would bother some teams, but we’ve got a good rotation going, and it’s part of our desire to prove to everyone how hard we’ve worked,” Nirchi said. “We want to be remembered for our work ethic, dedication, love for the game, as well as the victories.”
“We’re especially proud that South hasn’t had this good of a team,” Dodaro added. “We want to keep adding wins, be it this streak or one in the postseason.”
“We are dedicated and ready to go,” Trenholm concluded.
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Tournament: Miranda Nirchi, sr., MF, Plainfield South
Rosary Invitational
(20-minute halves for all matches)
Rosary Pool results
Harlem 1, Rosary 0
Plainfield South 1, Mahomet-Seymour 0
Plainfield South 1, Rosary 0
Mahomet-Seymour 2, Harlem 0
Plainfield South 1, Harlem 0
Mahomet-Seymour 2, Rosary 0
Win-6 points; tie-3 points; shutout-1 point; 1 point per goal, 3 max)
Rosary Pool standings
W-L-T Pts
Plainfield South 3-0-0 24
Mahomet-Seymour 2-1-0 18
Harlem 1-2-0 8
Rosary 0-3-0 0
IMSA Pool results
Aurora Central 1, IMSA 0
Joliet Catholic 1, Hononegah 0
Joliet Catholic 3, IMSA 0
Aurora Central 0, Hononegah 0
Aurora Central 1, Joliet Catholic 0
Hononegah 2, IMSA 0
IMSA Pool standings
W-L-T Pts
Aurora Central 2-0-1 19
Joliet Catholic 2-1-0 18
Hononegah 1-1-1 12
IMSA 0-3-0 0
Championship bracket
Plainfield South 3, Joliet Catholic 0
Mahomet-Seymour 1, Aurora Central 0
Plainfield South 1, Mahomet-Seymour 0 (title)
Consolation bracket
Hononegah 0, Rosary 0 (Hononegah wins PKs 4-3)
Harlem 2, IMSA 0
Harlem 2, Hononegah 0 (title)
Tournament MVP: Miranda Nirchi
Championship game summary
Plainfield South 1, Mahomet-Seymour 0
1st 2nd F Records
Plainfield South 1 0 1 14-3-0
Mahomet-Seymour 0 0 0 11-2-1
Scoring summary
PS --- Nirchi five-yard finish after keeper fumble (Dodaro assist), 32nd minute