Plainfield South back on winning track
Plainfield Central perseveres through difficult season
By Steve Nemeth
PLAINFIELD -- Dave Brown and Kevin Fitzgerald are the kind of coaches who put their respective seasons in perspective.
For Brown’s Plainfield South crew, Saturday’s 7-0 victory simply got the Cougars back in the hunt for the Southwest Prairie Conference title.
”There’s way too much season still to be played,” Brown insisted. Translation: Plainfield South still has SPC home dates with Oswego and Romeoville, plus a regular-season finale at Oswego East, which is currently undefeated in league play.
For Fitzgerald’s Plainfield Central squad, it’s a gut-check year with roster limitations that have seen the Wildcats’ 2-1-1 start decline into its 2-11-2 record.
“We have a bunch of guys out due to a variety of reasons, and we’ve had to pull some freshmen up to varsity. It is what it is,” Fitzgerald said. “All we can do is ask them to play hard.”
Both schools had midweek contests washed out by bad weather, producing a rare late-season stretch without a game. Plainfield South wanted to erase the bitter taste of losing a 1-1 game at Plainfield East via a 4-3 shootout. Both wanted to find a rhythm and to prevent the coldest and windiest conditions of this year to stop them.
The host Cougars certainly warmed to the task with a goal just 3:15 into the match after a series of Plainfield South shots and failed Plainfield Central clears put the ball at the feet of Parker Gallt.
The senior tri-captain promptly parked a nine-yarder into the net for a quick 1-0 lead.
“When the ball came my way, I was aiming low and into the corner, knowing that’s the hardest spot for a keeper,” Gallt explained. “Since we came out flat against East, I knew we needed a quick and positive start.”
It started a huge day for Gallt that included an ESPN-esque bicycle kick goal just before halftime. He finished with a two-goal, three-assist performance that earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match acclaim.
The lead doubled at 18:58 when Benjamin Graunke set up Adam Burt for a six-yard finish, the first of his two goals. With 6:53 left before halftime, Gallt registered an assist to Michael Decker, who was open on the right wing for a 12-yard blast. There was 1:02 still to go when Gallt found Burt open in front of the goal, and the senior midfielder did a pivot turn for a seven-yard finish.
“Both goals came from good passes, and I believe the more we got in sync with our passes, the more good things happened,” noted Burt, who upped his season goal count to six.
The most memorable play of the contest came just 14.3 seconds before the halftime horn. That’s when Gallt executed his bicycle kick score that registered as his 17th on the year.
“I remember lying on the ground and looking toward the keeper and even upside down, seeing it hit the back of the net. It felt great,” Gallt said. “That’s my first-ever (bicycle score) in any kind of game at any level.”
The Cougars remained on the attack in the second half, and with 24:16 still to play, Ulisses Rodriguez’s corner kick led to a crisp header by Graunke that Plainfield Central goalie Shane Badertscher blocked. But Plainfield South’s Wyatt Gallt pounced on the rebound for a 6-0 lead. Parker Gallt then set up Diego DeUrquijo-Fernandez for a chip shot from the left side for the Cougars' final score with 10:20 left.
While the visiting Wildcats got shut out for the eighth time in the last 11 outings (0-10-1), it was the eighth clean sheet for South keeper Eric Fischer and the Cougar defense.
“Every match we’re looking for a shutout, but it’s always more important to get a win,” Fischer said. “This was a big game for us, considering how we needed to bounce back from our last match.”
Coach Brown stated: “Most important was coming out and taking care of business. Yes, Central’s down and having a tough time, but that’s when you mentally lose an edge. We started early with a goal and never took the foot off the gas.”
After a hard-fought 1-0 loss at Naperville Central in game three, Plainfield South went on a nine-match (8-0-1) unbeaten streak before the shootout loss at East. That string included capturing the Lincoln-Way North Invitational.
For Plainfield Central, the current winless streak also encompasses four defeats in the PepsiCo Showdown plus two setbacks before a 1-1 tie with Belvidere in the St. Charles East Invitational. In addition to Badertscher in goal, the Wildcats had three other freshmen and three sophomores in the starting lineup.
Starting lineups
Plainfield Central
G Shane Badertscher
D Jose Cardenas
D Matt Geib
D Gage Wuestenfeld
D Roger Vera
M Cade Thornberry
M Ryan Donnell
M Esdras Hernandez
F Simeon Adesina
F Kyle Holden
F Franky Guzman
Plainfield South
G Eric Fischer
D Chase Cleasby
D Michael Santillo
D Benjamin Graunke
D Anthony Hernandez
M Adam Burt
M Dominic Nirchi
M Colin Marmoll
F Dominick Skrip
F Parker Gallt
F Michael Decker
Man of the Match: Parker Gallt, Plainfield South
Referees: Justin Obryan, Dan Herrmann, David Petrosky
Plainfield Central perseveres through difficult season
By Steve Nemeth
PLAINFIELD -- Dave Brown and Kevin Fitzgerald are the kind of coaches who put their respective seasons in perspective.
For Brown’s Plainfield South crew, Saturday’s 7-0 victory simply got the Cougars back in the hunt for the Southwest Prairie Conference title.
”There’s way too much season still to be played,” Brown insisted. Translation: Plainfield South still has SPC home dates with Oswego and Romeoville, plus a regular-season finale at Oswego East, which is currently undefeated in league play.
For Fitzgerald’s Plainfield Central squad, it’s a gut-check year with roster limitations that have seen the Wildcats’ 2-1-1 start decline into its 2-11-2 record.
“We have a bunch of guys out due to a variety of reasons, and we’ve had to pull some freshmen up to varsity. It is what it is,” Fitzgerald said. “All we can do is ask them to play hard.”
Both schools had midweek contests washed out by bad weather, producing a rare late-season stretch without a game. Plainfield South wanted to erase the bitter taste of losing a 1-1 game at Plainfield East via a 4-3 shootout. Both wanted to find a rhythm and to prevent the coldest and windiest conditions of this year to stop them.
The host Cougars certainly warmed to the task with a goal just 3:15 into the match after a series of Plainfield South shots and failed Plainfield Central clears put the ball at the feet of Parker Gallt.
The senior tri-captain promptly parked a nine-yarder into the net for a quick 1-0 lead.
“When the ball came my way, I was aiming low and into the corner, knowing that’s the hardest spot for a keeper,” Gallt explained. “Since we came out flat against East, I knew we needed a quick and positive start.”
It started a huge day for Gallt that included an ESPN-esque bicycle kick goal just before halftime. He finished with a two-goal, three-assist performance that earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match acclaim.
The lead doubled at 18:58 when Benjamin Graunke set up Adam Burt for a six-yard finish, the first of his two goals. With 6:53 left before halftime, Gallt registered an assist to Michael Decker, who was open on the right wing for a 12-yard blast. There was 1:02 still to go when Gallt found Burt open in front of the goal, and the senior midfielder did a pivot turn for a seven-yard finish.
“Both goals came from good passes, and I believe the more we got in sync with our passes, the more good things happened,” noted Burt, who upped his season goal count to six.
The most memorable play of the contest came just 14.3 seconds before the halftime horn. That’s when Gallt executed his bicycle kick score that registered as his 17th on the year.
“I remember lying on the ground and looking toward the keeper and even upside down, seeing it hit the back of the net. It felt great,” Gallt said. “That’s my first-ever (bicycle score) in any kind of game at any level.”
The Cougars remained on the attack in the second half, and with 24:16 still to play, Ulisses Rodriguez’s corner kick led to a crisp header by Graunke that Plainfield Central goalie Shane Badertscher blocked. But Plainfield South’s Wyatt Gallt pounced on the rebound for a 6-0 lead. Parker Gallt then set up Diego DeUrquijo-Fernandez for a chip shot from the left side for the Cougars' final score with 10:20 left.
While the visiting Wildcats got shut out for the eighth time in the last 11 outings (0-10-1), it was the eighth clean sheet for South keeper Eric Fischer and the Cougar defense.
“Every match we’re looking for a shutout, but it’s always more important to get a win,” Fischer said. “This was a big game for us, considering how we needed to bounce back from our last match.”
Coach Brown stated: “Most important was coming out and taking care of business. Yes, Central’s down and having a tough time, but that’s when you mentally lose an edge. We started early with a goal and never took the foot off the gas.”
After a hard-fought 1-0 loss at Naperville Central in game three, Plainfield South went on a nine-match (8-0-1) unbeaten streak before the shootout loss at East. That string included capturing the Lincoln-Way North Invitational.
For Plainfield Central, the current winless streak also encompasses four defeats in the PepsiCo Showdown plus two setbacks before a 1-1 tie with Belvidere in the St. Charles East Invitational. In addition to Badertscher in goal, the Wildcats had three other freshmen and three sophomores in the starting lineup.
Starting lineups
Plainfield Central
G Shane Badertscher
D Jose Cardenas
D Matt Geib
D Gage Wuestenfeld
D Roger Vera
M Cade Thornberry
M Ryan Donnell
M Esdras Hernandez
F Simeon Adesina
F Kyle Holden
F Franky Guzman
Plainfield South
G Eric Fischer
D Chase Cleasby
D Michael Santillo
D Benjamin Graunke
D Anthony Hernandez
M Adam Burt
M Dominic Nirchi
M Colin Marmoll
F Dominick Skrip
F Parker Gallt
F Michael Decker
Man of the Match: Parker Gallt, Plainfield South
Referees: Justin Obryan, Dan Herrmann, David Petrosky