Plainfield C. can't keep up with Lane
Defending Showdown champs break down Tigers
By Patrick Z. McGavin
LA GRANGE — Of all the major sports, soccer is the one governed by the ineffable and shaped by the almost impossible to predict. The game has its own rhythm, speed and laws of physics. Skill often trumps size, chemistry outweighs talent and the ability to play through adversity suggests an indication of valor and worth.
For a lot of years Plainfield Central had its run, with little interference, in the Southwest Prairie. Now other programs have caught up, and the question surrounding Kevin Fitzgerald’s team is how the team is going to respond to the greater challenges.
A tough week just turned harder and more unrelenting as defending tournament champion Lane Tech broke the Tigers down on both sides of the ball for the convincing 4-0 victory in a first-round PepsiCo Showdown match Saturday afternoon at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
Junior midfielder Damian Pikul scored two goals for the Indians.
Lane is a perennial Public League power. The Indians last year became the lowest-seeded program and first city team ever to win the championship. The seventh-seeded Indians (7-1) blitzed Plainfield Central with three goals in the middle and late portions of the first half, and the Tigers never recovered.
“One of the reasons we play in the PepsiCo is the chance to play against four good teams you’re not likely to otherwise play, and they’re obviously one of better ones,” Plainfield Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. “I’d like to see us show a little more.
“We did some good things, but not enough and not enough for an extended period of time.”
Plainfield Central was also unlucky, having an apparent early goal by junior midfielder Jarod Petrovic negated by an offsides call. The early signs were encouraging for the Tigers. Off a throw-in, Petrovic got loose and drilled a short volley that Lane keeper Raudel Rojas speared.
Senior midfielder Ozzie Gutierrez showed excellent ability in open space, creating some sharp balls he slotted into the middle. Lanky 6-3 junior defender Gage Wuestenfeld has a terrifically active leg who showed power and drive on several free kicks.
The difficulty the Tigers experienced was stringing the different parts into a cohesive flow. “I felt we had more chances on corners and throw-ins, but we need to focus on finishing them and converting,” Gutierrez said.
The early disallowal on the goal set a negative tone, he said. “It does bring you down. You think you score and it’s offsides, but we need to work on our mental toughness. When we get scored on, we can’t make mistakes like we did. We have to play through them, and we need to keep playing when we’re down one or two to nothing,” Gutierrez said.
Lane has appeared in four consecutive Public League city tournament championship games and has grown accustomed to playing in the spotlight. The team also has been bolstered by the return from playing club of rangy and talented 5-11 senior forward Patrick Wojciuk. He scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season with a blast from the left edge from about 14 yards out in the 16th minute.
It changed everything. “I just thought we started off kind of slow and they were attacking us, but then we put the one in and that just kind of loosened us up,” Wojciuk said. Lane was suddenly quicker to the 50-50 balls and finding seams in the Tigers backline. “Things went to a better flow for us, and they didn’t really seem to have an answer,” he said.
Perhaps unnerved by the first Lane goal, Plainfield North turned sloppy. A mistake on the backline in the 26th minute proved disastrous. Senior Lane midfielder Artur Kielar alertly pounced on a misplayed ball, collected it under his feet and drilled a sidewinder that curved inside the near post in the 26th minute for some necessary breathing space for the Indians.
“It was a bad clearance, and I trapped it and took a shot,” Kielar said. “I was lucky enough to score.”
Pikul took over from there. He played a fortuitous game, always finding himself in good areas and able to take advantage of scoring opportunities. He scored his first two goals of the season, late in the first half and in the 80th minute, as Lane ran away from the Tigers.
“I think we were the better team and I think the score was fair,” Lane coach Andrew Ricks said. “I thought we weren’t hungry in the first 10 minutes, but from that point to the 30th minute, I thought we were hungry and starting to get our rhythm.
“After we were up, we took our foot off the pedal, and I didn’t like the inconsistency. I think we can possess the ball very well, but I keep emphasizing possession with a good purpose.”
Ricks also substituted freely. He gave all the players on his roster a chance to get on the field. “I want them to have the PepsiCo Showdown experience. There’s some dropoff in talent, but we have depth. I want to be able to preserve the starters, avoid yellow cards and get the bench into the game,” he said.
By contrast, Plainfield Central looks to regroup and find itself. “We have to be tougher, and we have to compete a little more,” Fitzgerald said. “We have a very tough schedule by design. It’s meant to be challenging.
“Whether or not we meet that challenge remains to be seen.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield Central
G: Sebastian Zajac
D: Gustavo Sanchez
D: Gage Wuestenfeld
D: Ricky Garcia
D: Phil Garcia
D: Ish Contreras
M: Jarod Petrovic
M: Zach Gill
M: Ozzie Gutierrez
M: Augie Cruz
F: Edgar Cardenas
Lane Tech
G: Raudel Rojas
D: Aaron Ayala
D: Cesar Garza
D: Josh Zamudio
D: Nester Aviles
D: Alvaro Soto
M: Alex Rydberg
M: Artur Kielar
M: Jaime Lopez
F: Patrick Wojciuk
F: Ivan Alejandre
Referees: Francisco Damien, Tim Csuri, Francisco Lauriano
Man of the Match: Damian Pikul, Lane
Defending Showdown champs break down Tigers
By Patrick Z. McGavin
LA GRANGE — Of all the major sports, soccer is the one governed by the ineffable and shaped by the almost impossible to predict. The game has its own rhythm, speed and laws of physics. Skill often trumps size, chemistry outweighs talent and the ability to play through adversity suggests an indication of valor and worth.
For a lot of years Plainfield Central had its run, with little interference, in the Southwest Prairie. Now other programs have caught up, and the question surrounding Kevin Fitzgerald’s team is how the team is going to respond to the greater challenges.
A tough week just turned harder and more unrelenting as defending tournament champion Lane Tech broke the Tigers down on both sides of the ball for the convincing 4-0 victory in a first-round PepsiCo Showdown match Saturday afternoon at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
Junior midfielder Damian Pikul scored two goals for the Indians.
Lane is a perennial Public League power. The Indians last year became the lowest-seeded program and first city team ever to win the championship. The seventh-seeded Indians (7-1) blitzed Plainfield Central with three goals in the middle and late portions of the first half, and the Tigers never recovered.
“One of the reasons we play in the PepsiCo is the chance to play against four good teams you’re not likely to otherwise play, and they’re obviously one of better ones,” Plainfield Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. “I’d like to see us show a little more.
“We did some good things, but not enough and not enough for an extended period of time.”
Plainfield Central was also unlucky, having an apparent early goal by junior midfielder Jarod Petrovic negated by an offsides call. The early signs were encouraging for the Tigers. Off a throw-in, Petrovic got loose and drilled a short volley that Lane keeper Raudel Rojas speared.
Senior midfielder Ozzie Gutierrez showed excellent ability in open space, creating some sharp balls he slotted into the middle. Lanky 6-3 junior defender Gage Wuestenfeld has a terrifically active leg who showed power and drive on several free kicks.
The difficulty the Tigers experienced was stringing the different parts into a cohesive flow. “I felt we had more chances on corners and throw-ins, but we need to focus on finishing them and converting,” Gutierrez said.
The early disallowal on the goal set a negative tone, he said. “It does bring you down. You think you score and it’s offsides, but we need to work on our mental toughness. When we get scored on, we can’t make mistakes like we did. We have to play through them, and we need to keep playing when we’re down one or two to nothing,” Gutierrez said.
Lane has appeared in four consecutive Public League city tournament championship games and has grown accustomed to playing in the spotlight. The team also has been bolstered by the return from playing club of rangy and talented 5-11 senior forward Patrick Wojciuk. He scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season with a blast from the left edge from about 14 yards out in the 16th minute.
It changed everything. “I just thought we started off kind of slow and they were attacking us, but then we put the one in and that just kind of loosened us up,” Wojciuk said. Lane was suddenly quicker to the 50-50 balls and finding seams in the Tigers backline. “Things went to a better flow for us, and they didn’t really seem to have an answer,” he said.
Perhaps unnerved by the first Lane goal, Plainfield North turned sloppy. A mistake on the backline in the 26th minute proved disastrous. Senior Lane midfielder Artur Kielar alertly pounced on a misplayed ball, collected it under his feet and drilled a sidewinder that curved inside the near post in the 26th minute for some necessary breathing space for the Indians.
“It was a bad clearance, and I trapped it and took a shot,” Kielar said. “I was lucky enough to score.”
Pikul took over from there. He played a fortuitous game, always finding himself in good areas and able to take advantage of scoring opportunities. He scored his first two goals of the season, late in the first half and in the 80th minute, as Lane ran away from the Tigers.
“I think we were the better team and I think the score was fair,” Lane coach Andrew Ricks said. “I thought we weren’t hungry in the first 10 minutes, but from that point to the 30th minute, I thought we were hungry and starting to get our rhythm.
“After we were up, we took our foot off the pedal, and I didn’t like the inconsistency. I think we can possess the ball very well, but I keep emphasizing possession with a good purpose.”
Ricks also substituted freely. He gave all the players on his roster a chance to get on the field. “I want them to have the PepsiCo Showdown experience. There’s some dropoff in talent, but we have depth. I want to be able to preserve the starters, avoid yellow cards and get the bench into the game,” he said.
By contrast, Plainfield Central looks to regroup and find itself. “We have to be tougher, and we have to compete a little more,” Fitzgerald said. “We have a very tough schedule by design. It’s meant to be challenging.
“Whether or not we meet that challenge remains to be seen.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield Central
G: Sebastian Zajac
D: Gustavo Sanchez
D: Gage Wuestenfeld
D: Ricky Garcia
D: Phil Garcia
D: Ish Contreras
M: Jarod Petrovic
M: Zach Gill
M: Ozzie Gutierrez
M: Augie Cruz
F: Edgar Cardenas
Lane Tech
G: Raudel Rojas
D: Aaron Ayala
D: Cesar Garza
D: Josh Zamudio
D: Nester Aviles
D: Alvaro Soto
M: Alex Rydberg
M: Artur Kielar
M: Jaime Lopez
F: Patrick Wojciuk
F: Ivan Alejandre
Referees: Francisco Damien, Tim Csuri, Francisco Lauriano
Man of the Match: Damian Pikul, Lane