Frazer shines during 'thrilla' in Plainfield
Oswego E. senior knocks out Plainfield S. with late goal in 4-3 win
By Chris Walker
PLAINFIELD – When Oswego East began playing Plainfield South on Sept. 25, they were still in a battle for the Suburban Prairie Conference title with Oswego.
After the Wolves lost a rousing battle to the Panthers on Oct. 2, it looked as if they’d need to win out and hope for a slip-up from their crosstown rival to land that top spot. Unfortnately for them that most certainly didn’t occur; the Panthers proceeded to finish off their second-straight undefeated SPC season.
While the aforementioned blunder never happened during Oswego’s path through the remainder of its SPC schedule, the Wolves suffered a tough loss to Minooka. That rendered Thursday’s continuation game as basically meaningless other than for pride and preparation for the beginning of win-or-go-home games in regional play. Such action begins in less than a week for both the Cougars and the Wolves.
Regardless of the significance of the game, it ended up being a good one that was both thrilling and upsetting at times for both. It ultimately went in Oswego East’s favor despite the Wolves inability to preserve leads on two occasions, including with under two minutes left to play. The Wolves ultimately held on for a 4-3 victory.
“It was kind of nuts because we were controlling the game, and then we got lackadaisical and made a couple mistakes,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “But I told the guys we won and found a way to win, but it never should’ve come down to it. (Anthony Marmolejo) is their best player, and we know what he does, and we go over it. But he still beat us, and that was frustrating.”
Surrendering goals, far too many of them, has to end soon for the Wolves or their season will end prematurely.
“We’re giving up way more goals then we were earlier in the season,” Szymanski said. “We gave up six in our first 12 games and now we’re up to 22 goals allowed so we’ve struggled in giving up way too many. That’s our biggest area of concern right now.”
As luck would have it, Ford Frazer, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, saved his teammates twice on two separate dates in this one for Oswego East.
When the first half was played on Sept. 25, Frazer scored with 4:34 remaining before halftime to pull the Wolves even with the Cougars at 1-1. If he hadn’t had done that, Plainfield South would’ve escaped with a 1-0 victory since the game was called after the first half had been completed. Instead, with the game tied, it was resumed, and once again it was Frazer who delivered in the final minutes of a half, but this time he did it with just 1:23 to play.
Frazer’s goal stunned the Cougars, who had tied the game at 3-3 only 34 seconds earlier on Ernesto Cortina’s second goal of the game. He shared the rare feat, just like Frazer, of scoring multiple goals in the same game on different days. It's the type of thing that usually just doesn’t happen.
“We were fortunate to get a goal right away there in the second half, but I think we kind of lost our focus for a few seconds. When you do that Oswego East doesn’t take too long to put one in the back of net,” Plainfield South coach Bryant Williams said. “If we’re not fully focused, teams are going to continue to do that.”
Unlike in the first half, the Wolves were not slow out of the gate, jumping to a 2-1 lead on Dimitri Huitron’s goal off a free kick from about 30 yards.
It stayed that way until Marmolejo tied it at 2-2 with 15:12 left to play.
Frazer then found Andre Casas with 11:02 remaining to play as Casas scored off a header on Frazer’s perfectly placed pass.
It looked like the Wolves would be able to hold on to that lead, but once again they couldn’t. The resilient Cougars answered with 1:57 left when Cortina tied things up at 3-3.
The common bond between the two teams, and it’s not a good one to have, appears to be inconsistent play from their respective backlines. While injuries have forced a bit of a shake-up in back, something has to change quickly and whoever is asked to step up and play a key role needs to do it now.
“One of the things we’ve talked about this week is getting that consistency in the backline,” Williams. “Here we gave up three goals in the second half, and one was on a foul after giving the ball up. Another was on a nice free kick from about 30 yards that we let bounce around, and they scored a goal. The last goal we gave up the ball and let a guy go one-on-one. It’s frustrating because we’re not making them earn their goals; we’re giving away goals.”
Rather than putting on an adhesive bandage on the backline blues, the Cougars are hoping they can fix the problem once and for all with the return of junior Ryan Kabaker from an injury.
“He usually cleans up that stuff in back,” Williams said. “He’s kind of the head of the body back there, and right now we’re kind of playing with the body without the head telling it where to go.”
Injuries are a part of the game, but Williams has been left scratching his head wondering if he’s ever had it this bad.
“In my 18 years now of coaching at various levels, or going back 25 (years) to youth leagues, I’ve never had this many changes in my lineups in one season with guys in and out,” he said. “The lack of consistency has been a battle for the boys, and we’ve struggled.”
Szymanski knows what Williams is dealing with and the frustration that mounts because of it.
“We have so many guys hurt that it’s kind of crazy,” Szymanski said. “But we treated (Plainfield South) as if it were a playoff game, and that we needed to move forward to get ourselves ready for Batavia, which is not going to be an easy game.”
Bolingbrook awaits Plainfield South on Wednesday and the Raiders have had all the reason to be confident. They’ve already had a very successful season with a record of 13-8-0, which includes a pair of victories against the Cougars.
If the Cougars are going to pull off the upset, they are going to have to find a way to stop a dynamic trio of players who have combined for 24 goals and 22 assists. That deadly scoring trio consists of Cristian Guzman (11 goals, 5 assists), Angel Terrazas (9 goals, 6 assists) and Mauricio Behena (4 goals, 11 assists).
“It’s hard to beat a team three times. The second time we played them we didn’t give up a goal until we pushed our numbers up and then they got an easy one,” Williams said. “I like our chances, but Bolingbrook is always a good team so it’s definitely not going to be easy. We need to bring our best game, and I feel good and a little more confident then in the past few games.”
Oswego East’s path toward a successful postseason will be difficult at well. They open up against Batavia on Tuesday and the Bulldogs enjoy the advantage of playing on its home turf, the same place that they tied the Wolves 1-1 in a Sept. 1 game where heavy winds played a factor. The Wolves also have the huge task of trying to beat a team they’ve never beaten before. Or, if you look at from the other perspective, Batavia gets to take on a team it has never lost to before.
“Oswego East is going to be tough but when we played them here to a 1-1 draw we were right there with them,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “So we feel lucky to have that opportunity with those guys playing here again, and we get to host.”
Batavia won 8-1 in 2013 and 7-1 in 2014, but the games have been more competitive in recent years with Batavia winning 3-0 in 2015, the teams tying 1-1 in 2016 and Batavia winning 2-1 last year.
“The tricky thing about them is they are notorious for being a good program, but I’ve felt that the last three years we’ve been the better team,” Frazer said after the 1-1 tie on Sept. 1. “I feel like we haven’t been able to finish against them, but sometimes it’s hard like today with the winds to get that first win against that program.”
Oswego East
GK: Nathan Huerter
D: Joey Bavol
D: David Bombrys
D: Zach Lass
D: Nathan Czepiel
MF: Kyle Blasingame
MF: Dimitri Huitron
MF: Kellen Klosterman
MF: Nolan Laczynski
F: Ford Frazer
F: Andre Casas
Plainfield South
GK: Nicholas Beemster
D: Justin D’Alessandro
D: Zachary Kolb
D: Justin McGuigan
D: Tyler Whitmire
MF: Ernesto Cortina
MF: Miki Derka
MF: Vincent Nircha
MF: Gabe Sandoval
F: Anthony Marmolejo
F: Maxwell Treptow
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ford Frazer, sr., F, Oswego East
Scoring Summary
First half
Plainfield South – Ernesto Cortina (Anthony Marmolejo), 15:41
Oswego East – Ford Frazer (unassisted), 4:34
Second half
Oswego East – Dimitri Huitron (unassisted), 33:02
Plainfield South – Anthony Marmolejo (Justin McGuigan), 15:12
Oswego East – Andre Casas (Ford Frazer), 11:02
Plainfield South – Ernesto Cortina (unassisted), 1:57
Oswego East – Ford Frazer (unassisted), 1:23
Oswego E. senior knocks out Plainfield S. with late goal in 4-3 win
By Chris Walker
PLAINFIELD – When Oswego East began playing Plainfield South on Sept. 25, they were still in a battle for the Suburban Prairie Conference title with Oswego.
After the Wolves lost a rousing battle to the Panthers on Oct. 2, it looked as if they’d need to win out and hope for a slip-up from their crosstown rival to land that top spot. Unfortnately for them that most certainly didn’t occur; the Panthers proceeded to finish off their second-straight undefeated SPC season.
While the aforementioned blunder never happened during Oswego’s path through the remainder of its SPC schedule, the Wolves suffered a tough loss to Minooka. That rendered Thursday’s continuation game as basically meaningless other than for pride and preparation for the beginning of win-or-go-home games in regional play. Such action begins in less than a week for both the Cougars and the Wolves.
Regardless of the significance of the game, it ended up being a good one that was both thrilling and upsetting at times for both. It ultimately went in Oswego East’s favor despite the Wolves inability to preserve leads on two occasions, including with under two minutes left to play. The Wolves ultimately held on for a 4-3 victory.
“It was kind of nuts because we were controlling the game, and then we got lackadaisical and made a couple mistakes,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “But I told the guys we won and found a way to win, but it never should’ve come down to it. (Anthony Marmolejo) is their best player, and we know what he does, and we go over it. But he still beat us, and that was frustrating.”
Surrendering goals, far too many of them, has to end soon for the Wolves or their season will end prematurely.
“We’re giving up way more goals then we were earlier in the season,” Szymanski said. “We gave up six in our first 12 games and now we’re up to 22 goals allowed so we’ve struggled in giving up way too many. That’s our biggest area of concern right now.”
As luck would have it, Ford Frazer, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, saved his teammates twice on two separate dates in this one for Oswego East.
When the first half was played on Sept. 25, Frazer scored with 4:34 remaining before halftime to pull the Wolves even with the Cougars at 1-1. If he hadn’t had done that, Plainfield South would’ve escaped with a 1-0 victory since the game was called after the first half had been completed. Instead, with the game tied, it was resumed, and once again it was Frazer who delivered in the final minutes of a half, but this time he did it with just 1:23 to play.
Frazer’s goal stunned the Cougars, who had tied the game at 3-3 only 34 seconds earlier on Ernesto Cortina’s second goal of the game. He shared the rare feat, just like Frazer, of scoring multiple goals in the same game on different days. It's the type of thing that usually just doesn’t happen.
“We were fortunate to get a goal right away there in the second half, but I think we kind of lost our focus for a few seconds. When you do that Oswego East doesn’t take too long to put one in the back of net,” Plainfield South coach Bryant Williams said. “If we’re not fully focused, teams are going to continue to do that.”
Unlike in the first half, the Wolves were not slow out of the gate, jumping to a 2-1 lead on Dimitri Huitron’s goal off a free kick from about 30 yards.
It stayed that way until Marmolejo tied it at 2-2 with 15:12 left to play.
Frazer then found Andre Casas with 11:02 remaining to play as Casas scored off a header on Frazer’s perfectly placed pass.
It looked like the Wolves would be able to hold on to that lead, but once again they couldn’t. The resilient Cougars answered with 1:57 left when Cortina tied things up at 3-3.
The common bond between the two teams, and it’s not a good one to have, appears to be inconsistent play from their respective backlines. While injuries have forced a bit of a shake-up in back, something has to change quickly and whoever is asked to step up and play a key role needs to do it now.
“One of the things we’ve talked about this week is getting that consistency in the backline,” Williams. “Here we gave up three goals in the second half, and one was on a foul after giving the ball up. Another was on a nice free kick from about 30 yards that we let bounce around, and they scored a goal. The last goal we gave up the ball and let a guy go one-on-one. It’s frustrating because we’re not making them earn their goals; we’re giving away goals.”
Rather than putting on an adhesive bandage on the backline blues, the Cougars are hoping they can fix the problem once and for all with the return of junior Ryan Kabaker from an injury.
“He usually cleans up that stuff in back,” Williams said. “He’s kind of the head of the body back there, and right now we’re kind of playing with the body without the head telling it where to go.”
Injuries are a part of the game, but Williams has been left scratching his head wondering if he’s ever had it this bad.
“In my 18 years now of coaching at various levels, or going back 25 (years) to youth leagues, I’ve never had this many changes in my lineups in one season with guys in and out,” he said. “The lack of consistency has been a battle for the boys, and we’ve struggled.”
Szymanski knows what Williams is dealing with and the frustration that mounts because of it.
“We have so many guys hurt that it’s kind of crazy,” Szymanski said. “But we treated (Plainfield South) as if it were a playoff game, and that we needed to move forward to get ourselves ready for Batavia, which is not going to be an easy game.”
Bolingbrook awaits Plainfield South on Wednesday and the Raiders have had all the reason to be confident. They’ve already had a very successful season with a record of 13-8-0, which includes a pair of victories against the Cougars.
If the Cougars are going to pull off the upset, they are going to have to find a way to stop a dynamic trio of players who have combined for 24 goals and 22 assists. That deadly scoring trio consists of Cristian Guzman (11 goals, 5 assists), Angel Terrazas (9 goals, 6 assists) and Mauricio Behena (4 goals, 11 assists).
“It’s hard to beat a team three times. The second time we played them we didn’t give up a goal until we pushed our numbers up and then they got an easy one,” Williams said. “I like our chances, but Bolingbrook is always a good team so it’s definitely not going to be easy. We need to bring our best game, and I feel good and a little more confident then in the past few games.”
Oswego East’s path toward a successful postseason will be difficult at well. They open up against Batavia on Tuesday and the Bulldogs enjoy the advantage of playing on its home turf, the same place that they tied the Wolves 1-1 in a Sept. 1 game where heavy winds played a factor. The Wolves also have the huge task of trying to beat a team they’ve never beaten before. Or, if you look at from the other perspective, Batavia gets to take on a team it has never lost to before.
“Oswego East is going to be tough but when we played them here to a 1-1 draw we were right there with them,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “So we feel lucky to have that opportunity with those guys playing here again, and we get to host.”
Batavia won 8-1 in 2013 and 7-1 in 2014, but the games have been more competitive in recent years with Batavia winning 3-0 in 2015, the teams tying 1-1 in 2016 and Batavia winning 2-1 last year.
“The tricky thing about them is they are notorious for being a good program, but I’ve felt that the last three years we’ve been the better team,” Frazer said after the 1-1 tie on Sept. 1. “I feel like we haven’t been able to finish against them, but sometimes it’s hard like today with the winds to get that first win against that program.”
Oswego East
GK: Nathan Huerter
D: Joey Bavol
D: David Bombrys
D: Zach Lass
D: Nathan Czepiel
MF: Kyle Blasingame
MF: Dimitri Huitron
MF: Kellen Klosterman
MF: Nolan Laczynski
F: Ford Frazer
F: Andre Casas
Plainfield South
GK: Nicholas Beemster
D: Justin D’Alessandro
D: Zachary Kolb
D: Justin McGuigan
D: Tyler Whitmire
MF: Ernesto Cortina
MF: Miki Derka
MF: Vincent Nircha
MF: Gabe Sandoval
F: Anthony Marmolejo
F: Maxwell Treptow
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ford Frazer, sr., F, Oswego East
Scoring Summary
First half
Plainfield South – Ernesto Cortina (Anthony Marmolejo), 15:41
Oswego East – Ford Frazer (unassisted), 4:34
Second half
Oswego East – Dimitri Huitron (unassisted), 33:02
Plainfield South – Anthony Marmolejo (Justin McGuigan), 15:12
Oswego East – Andre Casas (Ford Frazer), 11:02
Plainfield South – Ernesto Cortina (unassisted), 1:57
Oswego East – Ford Frazer (unassisted), 1:23