Plainfield N. wears down Oswego E.
Late goal delivers 1-0 win, serves as momentum builder
By Derek Wolff
PLAINFIELD — A season ago, Plainfield North cruised through Southwest Prairie Conference play en route to becoming conference champions.
This season, the league has been a lot tougher for the Tigers and the other seven member schools.
Oswego East came into Thursday night's match touting the only undefeated record left in the conference, but it wouldn’t leave that way, thanks to a 69th-minute goal from Tigers midfielder Zach Barangan.
With the Tigers pressing forward offensively and getting plenty of quality chances for the previous 40 minutes, Barangan finally scored on a low cross from Jordan Schure out of the near corner to give Plainfield North the 1-0 win.
“The ball was bouncing around a little bit, and our centerback Jordan (Schure) is really good at keeping the ball in close and getting crosses off,” Barangan said. “I knew exactly where he was going to put it and just waited there on the goal line until he put it across and placed it in.”
The Oswego East back line had been tested all night, but their efforts and those of Wolves goalkeeper Jake Leonard kept the visitors in the game.
“Their goalkeeper was fantastic,” said Plainfield North coach Mike Skupien. “He made three unbelievable saves, and that was big time. He was very, very good.”
Tigers forward Austin Collier had two big chances in the second half with the Tigers looking to break the deadlock, including a 61st-minute strike from inside the 18 that was aimed upper-90 near post.
But Leonard was able to get a glove on it and deflect it off the crossbar and out of play.
Barangan’s goal a few minutes later brought him Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honors. It also brought relief to the hosts and heartbreak for Oswego East.
Wolves centerback James Jones said his team knew the Tigers' tendencies coming in and was able to game plan around defending at the back.
“We practiced moving the back line around and positioning,” Jones said. "(Coach Steve) Szymanski also had done a lot of research on Plainfield North, so we knew how to press back, hold back since we knew they would try to go over the top. It was kind of unlucky with their guys in the box. (The goal was) one of those box scrambles in every soccer player’s nightmares where it can go either way and then one bounce where someone sticks their leg out at it and the game is won or lost.”
With the Tigers controlling most of the possession on the evening, goalkeeper Cade Fink had largely a quiet night.
Sophomore midfielder Mike Bozett had the best scoring chance for the Wolves in the 62nd minute when he beat his mark near post and took a volley in for a headed chance.
Fink’s diving save on the play helped to ensure the clean sheet.
“It’s a huge help when we’re not getting attacked 24-7, the whole game,” Fink said. “It makes us fresher every time they come after us and just makes it easier.”
With a regional matchup against Geneva less than 10 days away, Fink said the win was a good sign moving forward.
“This is the type of team we’ll have to play and beat in the first few rounds of playoffs, and it’s the kind of team we have to get better at playing and score a few more goals,” he said. “But we got the win and put a zero up while doing it.”
For Oswego East (7-9-1, 4-1), the potential to be Southwest Prairie Conference Champions remains, with games left against Oswego and Plainfield South before its regional matchup against Yorkville.
Coach Syzmanski was proud of his starting 11 for largely playing the entire game as his side dealt with a number of injuries and was pleased with the defensive effort.
“As far as next man up, guys are ready to play,” Szymanski said. “I like our shots vs. these teams. We’re defending a lot better than we were earlier in the year, no doubt about that. One or two letups, but I like the direction we’re going in.
“We knew we could compete with these guys. We knew they were very good and we’d have to play a good game. Positives, we’re still in first place in conference. With luck hopefully we’ll get some guys healthier.”
Plainfield North (15-2-1, 4-2-0) will take on nonconference Morris and then finish Southwest Prairie Conference play with Minooka next Tuesday before traveling to Geneva for the regional on Friday.
“It just keeps us going,” Skupien said. “I thought we played very well. We were a little unlucky not to win two, three, or four to nothing, but that’s a credit to their defenders, a credit to their goalkeeper. To say we earned that — we definitely had to earn that victory. That was definitely a good result to keep us going here at the end of the season.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK-Jake Leonard
D-Arnold Arevalo
D-Spencer Moriarty
D-James Jones
M-Austin Patsch
M-Victor Cuevas
M-Dawson Johnson
M-Mike Bozett
M-Jesus Cepeda
F-Sean Phetchanpheng
F-Michael Waclaw
Plainfield North
GK-Cade Fink
D-Ethan Barangan
D-Alex Lynch
D-Travis Foust
M-Zach Barangan
M-Jake Farly
M-Mitchell Rathbun
M-Jordan Schure
M-James Thompson
F-Nicholas Anweiler
F-Austin Collier
Officials: Anthony Maratto, Michael Mortani, Patrick Mud
Man of the Match: Zach Barangan, Plainfield North
Late goal delivers 1-0 win, serves as momentum builder
By Derek Wolff
PLAINFIELD — A season ago, Plainfield North cruised through Southwest Prairie Conference play en route to becoming conference champions.
This season, the league has been a lot tougher for the Tigers and the other seven member schools.
Oswego East came into Thursday night's match touting the only undefeated record left in the conference, but it wouldn’t leave that way, thanks to a 69th-minute goal from Tigers midfielder Zach Barangan.
With the Tigers pressing forward offensively and getting plenty of quality chances for the previous 40 minutes, Barangan finally scored on a low cross from Jordan Schure out of the near corner to give Plainfield North the 1-0 win.
“The ball was bouncing around a little bit, and our centerback Jordan (Schure) is really good at keeping the ball in close and getting crosses off,” Barangan said. “I knew exactly where he was going to put it and just waited there on the goal line until he put it across and placed it in.”
The Oswego East back line had been tested all night, but their efforts and those of Wolves goalkeeper Jake Leonard kept the visitors in the game.
“Their goalkeeper was fantastic,” said Plainfield North coach Mike Skupien. “He made three unbelievable saves, and that was big time. He was very, very good.”
Tigers forward Austin Collier had two big chances in the second half with the Tigers looking to break the deadlock, including a 61st-minute strike from inside the 18 that was aimed upper-90 near post.
But Leonard was able to get a glove on it and deflect it off the crossbar and out of play.
Barangan’s goal a few minutes later brought him Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honors. It also brought relief to the hosts and heartbreak for Oswego East.
Wolves centerback James Jones said his team knew the Tigers' tendencies coming in and was able to game plan around defending at the back.
“We practiced moving the back line around and positioning,” Jones said. "(Coach Steve) Szymanski also had done a lot of research on Plainfield North, so we knew how to press back, hold back since we knew they would try to go over the top. It was kind of unlucky with their guys in the box. (The goal was) one of those box scrambles in every soccer player’s nightmares where it can go either way and then one bounce where someone sticks their leg out at it and the game is won or lost.”
With the Tigers controlling most of the possession on the evening, goalkeeper Cade Fink had largely a quiet night.
Sophomore midfielder Mike Bozett had the best scoring chance for the Wolves in the 62nd minute when he beat his mark near post and took a volley in for a headed chance.
Fink’s diving save on the play helped to ensure the clean sheet.
“It’s a huge help when we’re not getting attacked 24-7, the whole game,” Fink said. “It makes us fresher every time they come after us and just makes it easier.”
With a regional matchup against Geneva less than 10 days away, Fink said the win was a good sign moving forward.
“This is the type of team we’ll have to play and beat in the first few rounds of playoffs, and it’s the kind of team we have to get better at playing and score a few more goals,” he said. “But we got the win and put a zero up while doing it.”
For Oswego East (7-9-1, 4-1), the potential to be Southwest Prairie Conference Champions remains, with games left against Oswego and Plainfield South before its regional matchup against Yorkville.
Coach Syzmanski was proud of his starting 11 for largely playing the entire game as his side dealt with a number of injuries and was pleased with the defensive effort.
“As far as next man up, guys are ready to play,” Szymanski said. “I like our shots vs. these teams. We’re defending a lot better than we were earlier in the year, no doubt about that. One or two letups, but I like the direction we’re going in.
“We knew we could compete with these guys. We knew they were very good and we’d have to play a good game. Positives, we’re still in first place in conference. With luck hopefully we’ll get some guys healthier.”
Plainfield North (15-2-1, 4-2-0) will take on nonconference Morris and then finish Southwest Prairie Conference play with Minooka next Tuesday before traveling to Geneva for the regional on Friday.
“It just keeps us going,” Skupien said. “I thought we played very well. We were a little unlucky not to win two, three, or four to nothing, but that’s a credit to their defenders, a credit to their goalkeeper. To say we earned that — we definitely had to earn that victory. That was definitely a good result to keep us going here at the end of the season.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK-Jake Leonard
D-Arnold Arevalo
D-Spencer Moriarty
D-James Jones
M-Austin Patsch
M-Victor Cuevas
M-Dawson Johnson
M-Mike Bozett
M-Jesus Cepeda
F-Sean Phetchanpheng
F-Michael Waclaw
Plainfield North
GK-Cade Fink
D-Ethan Barangan
D-Alex Lynch
D-Travis Foust
M-Zach Barangan
M-Jake Farly
M-Mitchell Rathbun
M-Jordan Schure
M-James Thompson
F-Nicholas Anweiler
F-Austin Collier
Officials: Anthony Maratto, Michael Mortani, Patrick Mud
Man of the Match: Zach Barangan, Plainfield North