Scoreless draw motivates
Plainfield N., St. Charles N.
Feeling-out process lasts for entire relocated match
By Derek Wolff
GENEVA -- On the first day of spring break, playing on a neutral field, St. Charles North and Plainfield North played the type of game you’d expect, given the circumstances, a scoreless draw on Monday afternoon.
Neither side left satisfied, with scoring chances few and far between after the game was moved from St. Charles North due to field conditions.
St. Charles North (1-1-1) was on its heels early in the first half before counterattacking well to finish the half.
But Plainfield North (2-0-2) controlled the tempo in the second half, keeping the ball in the attacking third but struggling to get beyond the North Stars’ back line.
North Stars coach Ruth Vostal said Plainfield North's pressure and ball possession forced her side into playing into the Tigers' game at times.
“We sort of lost our style of play,” Vostal said. “There were a lot of balls in the air rather than looking for the ball on the ground. Looking at what are Hanna (Durocher's) strengths, what are some of our other forwards' strengths. Recognizing what their strengths are and playing into that, I think we had a lot of kick and chase over the top, and we knew we wouldn't be successful with that.”
Senior forward Durocher had the best scoring chance of the game for either team at 24 minutes into the first half.
Taking a ball over the top into the middle of the 18, Durocher’s shot rang off the far post and bounced back to her, where her second-chance effort was cleared off the line by Tigers defender Brooke Polonus.
“Honestly it was split-second, the quickest thing, quickest shot I've ever gotten off,” Durocher said. “I went in and knew my job was to bring up the intensity, especially as a forward trying to score. I knew that we hadn't taken many shots on that goalie so we wanted to try her out, see what she could do. Unfortunately it hit the post.”
Plainfield North fought off counterattacks from St. Charles North in the final 10 minutes of a chippy first half before pulling it together and going on the offensive in the second.
“I'm really, really happy with how we played,” said Tigers coach Jane Crowe. “We've got four or five girls out, and I wasn't sure how we would handle that. So I was really happy with how we played. A little disappointed that we couldn't get a goal. But I think our effort was very good. That's a good team, they're a very good team and for us to really put the pressure on them that we did in the second half was good.”
The Tigers had a few close chances at the net in the second half, with Polonus narrowly missing the near post in the 49th minute.
Midfielder Samantha Elster had a good look inside the 18 in the 60th minute, but her right-footed strike went about two feet high of the bar, looking for the far post.
Not coming away with a win despite feeling like they had the better chances was a sore spot for the Tigers on the afternoon.
“I definitely think it is (frustrating),” Elster said. “I think we dominated, we had a lot of opportunities. So yeah, I'm frustrated that we didn't come up with a goal. But we were solid defensively.”
St. Charles North midfielder Morgan Rerko curled a corner kick on goal in the 69th minute looking to break the deadlock, but Tigers goalkeeper Emma Veselsky punched it out to safety.
Neither team was able to generate a quality chance in the final 10 minutes.
Both coaches cited tough opposing schedules early in the season and credited their opposition on the afternoon.
“I think starting out of the gate, we're playing great teams right from the start, which I wouldn't have any differently,” Vostal said. “I (couldn't) care less about the win-loss record, truly; our goal is to get better every single day, practice or game.
"I think there are things that we're doing that we're improving upon, but we have some younger players, some different formations and some lineups that we have where we have to get people playing with intensity for 80 minutes.”
Plainfield North will start Southwest Prairie Conference play with Oswego East on Thursday and wanted to benefit from getting to see defending Upstate Eight champion St. Charles North early.
“We definitely try to schedule some tough teams early on because it tells us right away where we're at, what we need to do,” Crowe said. “We start conference on Thursday and know that if we can play with teams like this, as long as we can continue that into conference we'll be in good shape.”
While not finishing the game with a goal and a win was disappointing, the Tigers were motivated by the result.
“I think it really gives us confidence knowing that we can stay with a good team like this,” said Polonus, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match. “It gives us ideas that we can work with for the rest of the season and really what we need to work on in practice.”
North Stars senior midfielder Lizze Parrilli found a positive in the result as well, especially after the team accomplished its goal of getting a shutout after giving up one goal in both a loss to Conant and a win over Geneva to start the season.
“I think it's good for us,” Parrilli said about playing a difficult early schedule. “I'd much rather have a tough season in the beginning to kind of see where we are and I know that we can handle it too. I wouldn't really be content playing a bunch of easy teams. A loss or a tie isn't ideal, but I'd rather take that (today's result) over an easy win where we wouldn't get better.”
The North Stars will be back in action Tuesday against Loyola.
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Emma Veselsky
D Abby Gustafson
D Brooke Polonus
D Megan Pertile
D Dena Elder
M Samantha Elster
M Brittaney Kroll
M Jessica Christmas
M Megan Breier
F Taylor Leskovar
F Raven Withhaar
St. Charles North
GK Shelby Stitz
D Sarah Farr
D Raine Roberts
D Lauren Neslund
M Katy Kusswurm
M Morgan Rerko
M Hailey Rydberg
M Lizzie Parrilli
F Gia Wahlberg
F Taylor Sypien
F Hanna Durocher
MVP of the Match: Brooke Polonus, D, Plainfield North
Officials: Sam Puglisi, Andy Maratto, Steve Jablo
Plainfield N., St. Charles N.
Feeling-out process lasts for entire relocated match
By Derek Wolff
GENEVA -- On the first day of spring break, playing on a neutral field, St. Charles North and Plainfield North played the type of game you’d expect, given the circumstances, a scoreless draw on Monday afternoon.
Neither side left satisfied, with scoring chances few and far between after the game was moved from St. Charles North due to field conditions.
St. Charles North (1-1-1) was on its heels early in the first half before counterattacking well to finish the half.
But Plainfield North (2-0-2) controlled the tempo in the second half, keeping the ball in the attacking third but struggling to get beyond the North Stars’ back line.
North Stars coach Ruth Vostal said Plainfield North's pressure and ball possession forced her side into playing into the Tigers' game at times.
“We sort of lost our style of play,” Vostal said. “There were a lot of balls in the air rather than looking for the ball on the ground. Looking at what are Hanna (Durocher's) strengths, what are some of our other forwards' strengths. Recognizing what their strengths are and playing into that, I think we had a lot of kick and chase over the top, and we knew we wouldn't be successful with that.”
Senior forward Durocher had the best scoring chance of the game for either team at 24 minutes into the first half.
Taking a ball over the top into the middle of the 18, Durocher’s shot rang off the far post and bounced back to her, where her second-chance effort was cleared off the line by Tigers defender Brooke Polonus.
“Honestly it was split-second, the quickest thing, quickest shot I've ever gotten off,” Durocher said. “I went in and knew my job was to bring up the intensity, especially as a forward trying to score. I knew that we hadn't taken many shots on that goalie so we wanted to try her out, see what she could do. Unfortunately it hit the post.”
Plainfield North fought off counterattacks from St. Charles North in the final 10 minutes of a chippy first half before pulling it together and going on the offensive in the second.
“I'm really, really happy with how we played,” said Tigers coach Jane Crowe. “We've got four or five girls out, and I wasn't sure how we would handle that. So I was really happy with how we played. A little disappointed that we couldn't get a goal. But I think our effort was very good. That's a good team, they're a very good team and for us to really put the pressure on them that we did in the second half was good.”
The Tigers had a few close chances at the net in the second half, with Polonus narrowly missing the near post in the 49th minute.
Midfielder Samantha Elster had a good look inside the 18 in the 60th minute, but her right-footed strike went about two feet high of the bar, looking for the far post.
Not coming away with a win despite feeling like they had the better chances was a sore spot for the Tigers on the afternoon.
“I definitely think it is (frustrating),” Elster said. “I think we dominated, we had a lot of opportunities. So yeah, I'm frustrated that we didn't come up with a goal. But we were solid defensively.”
St. Charles North midfielder Morgan Rerko curled a corner kick on goal in the 69th minute looking to break the deadlock, but Tigers goalkeeper Emma Veselsky punched it out to safety.
Neither team was able to generate a quality chance in the final 10 minutes.
Both coaches cited tough opposing schedules early in the season and credited their opposition on the afternoon.
“I think starting out of the gate, we're playing great teams right from the start, which I wouldn't have any differently,” Vostal said. “I (couldn't) care less about the win-loss record, truly; our goal is to get better every single day, practice or game.
"I think there are things that we're doing that we're improving upon, but we have some younger players, some different formations and some lineups that we have where we have to get people playing with intensity for 80 minutes.”
Plainfield North will start Southwest Prairie Conference play with Oswego East on Thursday and wanted to benefit from getting to see defending Upstate Eight champion St. Charles North early.
“We definitely try to schedule some tough teams early on because it tells us right away where we're at, what we need to do,” Crowe said. “We start conference on Thursday and know that if we can play with teams like this, as long as we can continue that into conference we'll be in good shape.”
While not finishing the game with a goal and a win was disappointing, the Tigers were motivated by the result.
“I think it really gives us confidence knowing that we can stay with a good team like this,” said Polonus, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match. “It gives us ideas that we can work with for the rest of the season and really what we need to work on in practice.”
North Stars senior midfielder Lizze Parrilli found a positive in the result as well, especially after the team accomplished its goal of getting a shutout after giving up one goal in both a loss to Conant and a win over Geneva to start the season.
“I think it's good for us,” Parrilli said about playing a difficult early schedule. “I'd much rather have a tough season in the beginning to kind of see where we are and I know that we can handle it too. I wouldn't really be content playing a bunch of easy teams. A loss or a tie isn't ideal, but I'd rather take that (today's result) over an easy win where we wouldn't get better.”
The North Stars will be back in action Tuesday against Loyola.
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Emma Veselsky
D Abby Gustafson
D Brooke Polonus
D Megan Pertile
D Dena Elder
M Samantha Elster
M Brittaney Kroll
M Jessica Christmas
M Megan Breier
F Taylor Leskovar
F Raven Withhaar
St. Charles North
GK Shelby Stitz
D Sarah Farr
D Raine Roberts
D Lauren Neslund
M Katy Kusswurm
M Morgan Rerko
M Hailey Rydberg
M Lizzie Parrilli
F Gia Wahlberg
F Taylor Sypien
F Hanna Durocher
MVP of the Match: Brooke Polonus, D, Plainfield North
Officials: Sam Puglisi, Andy Maratto, Steve Jablo