Plainfield South stuns
Oswego East with late rally
Cougars score twice in final 6 minutes to earn 2-2 draw
By Chris Walker
PLAINFIELD – Melchizedek “Mel” Mensah isn’t a sit-and-wait predator, but he played like one Monday afternoon.
The Plainfield South junior saw a ripe opportunity as the game progressed and then pounced on it to tie the game, performing an act of thievery so beautiful that it’s almost disappointing that it only netted an uncontested equalizer rather than the game-winner.
The match felt like a thrilling victory for the host Cougars and a devastating loss for the Wolves, but in reality it was a 2-2 draw.
“It feels amazing to be honest,” Mensah said. “Since day one we’ve always had a stretch of just stagnant water, so to finally come out and knock them in the mouth and hold our ground was amazing.”
Earlier in the game while playing on the outside, Mensah took inventory of the Wolves’ tendencies, got some ideas and made some adjustments.
“The sophomore up-top, Owen (O’Shea), was not transmitting how they were playing up front so I was like, ‘Can we switch?’,” Mensah said.
“They were consistently moving and being scared of the ball. So I switched with Owen and (their guy) looked scared of me picking him off, and eventually I got the golden cherry.”
The “golden cherry,” came with 4:18 left and tied the game for the Cougars (0-2-2, 0-2-2).
Once Mensah got the ball and slipped past Oswego East goalkeeper Owen Kiilsgaard all he needed to do was send it home without anyone standing in his way. The beauty was the patience his predatory attack showed as he waited for the opportunity to seize the ball and make the crucial play that sent his teammates home happy.
Like Skip in “Bull Durham,” Mensah won’t stand for lollygaggers.
“The goalie was lollygagging, and I don’t really like that stuff when I’m up-top,” Mensah said. “I was just reading the game, and they kept playing it to him and playing it to him.
“So I kept saying, ‘I’m going to pick him off no matter what, I will get you.’ And they played the ball back to him, and he couldn’t touch it up. I saw the ball and just got it and scored.”
It’s the kind of play that earns players enthusiastic fist bumps from teammates, cheers from the fans fortunate to be able to attend despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. and recognition from Chicagoland Soccer, which named Mensah its Man of the Match.
“He just brings a different attitude to the game,” Plainfield South senior Brandon Czurylo said. “When we’re down we’ll fight, but when you have that momentum, he’ll make sure you’re moving up the field and actually playing.”
As the game wound down, Mensah was fired up with optimism that his team could rally. Based on the result, he was dead on.
“I told them before with 10 minutes left to pick up the intensity,” Mensah said “I told them we have it, just focus up.”
What a moment for Mensah and the Cougars and what heartbreak for a Wolves team that lost a 2-0 lead with 6:04 left.
“I’m just disappointed, but to (Plainfield South’s) credit, they capitalized,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “I told our guys this should feel like a loss, and we have the tour of Plainfield this week and our first home game against Yorkville this week.”
Oswego East (0-1-3, 0-1-3) showed signs that its offense can do some damage despite entering the game with just three goals.
“We had a lot of good opportunities, but the mental errors at the end here were disappointing,” Szymanski said. “Defensively, we were solid, but too many mental mistakes cost us.”
The Wolves are a young team with just three seniors so while they are playing this abbreviated season and aiming for success, they also know that the experience they’re gaining, even when it comes after such harsh disappointment, will serve a valuable lesson on the long run.
“That’s what we’re hoping,” Szymanski said. “We have a lot of really good juniors that are getting that experience.”
The Wolves jumped ahead just 4:26 into the action when Kellen Klosterman developed an opportunity from the outside before whipping it in where Ythan Houston headed it in.
They’d expand their lead to 2-0 with 11:52 remaining in the opening half as Carter Boberg received a beautiful feed from Matt Watson. That set up Boberg for a 1v1 opportunity which he buried.
“Both goals were very nice,” Szymanski said. “But I wish we were finishing more.”
Plainfield South found its groove as white-knuckle time approached.
Mensah sent a nice pass to David Sanchez to set up his teammate to break the shutout and give his teammates some faith that they still had a chance to come back in this one.
The goal didn’t come out of nowhere; both teams did their part to try to create offense. While shots were directed toward the net, the game was scoreless for more than 45 minutes until Sanchez made it 2-1.
“I guess we did a couple tactical switches up-front with me in the middle, and I started feeding out wide distributing the ball and the ball started moving around and eventually we got the goal to David,” Mensah said.
“Mel and I have chemistry together, and we’re always practicing the one-twos in practice and ended up getting it off in the game,” Sanchez said. “The wind made it a little harder so I had to put a little more pace on the ball, but I was happy I was able to get it though.”
Sanchez felt as if they were knocking on the door to score all game -- it simply took time and persistence to finally break through.
“We saw we were bringing them down, and the goals weren’t coming, but we were getting shots off,” Sanchez said. “When we eventually got it, it gave us the confidence, and we were being more positive. We got another goal quickly.”
Where was that attitude in the first half?
“Talking to coach at halftime, we were sleeping in the first half and not as confident with the ball and struggling defensively,” Sanchez said. “The second half was completely different, because we were sticking to man-to-man with the opposition and getting attacking chances as well as playing one-twos and much simpler instead of driving in on our own. We were playing as a team more.”
Plainfield South coach Bryant Williams praised the approach.
“I was real happy; I told the guys this was an effort thing tonight,” he said. ”It wasn’t real pretty, but it was the idea that we kept scrapping and battling. We pressed them the second half and finally I think we broke them down, and they made a couple of mistakes. I think it was one of those things where it was a matter of time with our pressure.”
Putting the ball in the net has been a problem for the Cougars so to get two as quickly as they did in such a key moment in the game was both overdue and surprising.
“We’ve have really been snake-bit this year,” Williams said. “We have done everything but put the ball in the net. We had three goals coming into today, and all three were on penalty kicks. Then again we had a corner kick where I thought we were going score, and we had another opportunity where the ball bounced around several times and came out.
“So to finally get some goals in the run of play was huge, and I think it is going to help us going forward.”
Getting strong play in goal will also help. If not for the efforts of Jimmy Anderson in the first half to keep the Cougars deficit to just 2-0, and for Robin Coetzee to keep the Wolves from adding to their lead in the second half, Mensah’s late heroics probably wouldn’t have been enough.
“They both did a real nice job for us and kept us in the game,” Williams said. “And give their keeper credit. I thought we could’ve scored some more goals. Their keeper played a phenomenal game too, so it was good all the way around.”
Because the Cougars were a bit short-handed, they brought up JV players, Renee Saldivar, Brady Pollard and Dylan Harkness.
“We were kind of using a patchwork lineup since we had some guys unavailable to play,” Williams said. “The JV guys saw their first varsity action this year so we had to lean on them pretty heavy tonight.
“We had some injuries, so they stepped up really well. We’ll take this, and we definitely build on what we did in the second half and take the momentum into tomorrow night at Plainfield East.”
The days are passing far too quickly for Plainfield South’s seniors, but they appear to recognize it and are thus taking time to really enjoy it.
“It feels really nice to be out again, because we didn’t have the season in the fall and then we grinded over the fall and winter and came out ready for spring just in case something would happen,” Cougars senior Tyler Purdy said.
“And we’re here right now. It’s great to be here, especially for my last season. It’s one thing to just be practicing with your teammates, but playing as a team and going against opponents is a totally different thing. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK – Owen Kiilsgaard
D – Cael Cummings
D – Jack Conway
D - John Danison
D - Gilberto Mijarez
D - Mauro Hernandesz-Montes
M – Carter Boberg
M - Min Kha
M - Grant Glorioso
M - Kellen Klosterman
F - Ythan Houston
Plainfield South
GK – James Anderson
D – Drew Shelton
D – Tyler Purdy
D – Brandon Czurylo
D – Tommy Garner
M – Owen O’Shea
M – Adriel Rivas
M – Renee Saldivar
M – David Sanchez
F – Haris Pabedinskas
F – Bryan Graham
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Mel Mensah, jr., M, Plainfield South
Scoring summary
First half
Oswego East – Ethan Houston (Kellen Klosterman), 35:34
Oswego East - Carter Boberg (Matt Watson), 11:52
Second half
Plainfield South- David Sanchez (Mel Mensah), 6:04
Plainfield South – Mel Mensah (u/a) 4:18
Oswego East with late rally
Cougars score twice in final 6 minutes to earn 2-2 draw
By Chris Walker
PLAINFIELD – Melchizedek “Mel” Mensah isn’t a sit-and-wait predator, but he played like one Monday afternoon.
The Plainfield South junior saw a ripe opportunity as the game progressed and then pounced on it to tie the game, performing an act of thievery so beautiful that it’s almost disappointing that it only netted an uncontested equalizer rather than the game-winner.
The match felt like a thrilling victory for the host Cougars and a devastating loss for the Wolves, but in reality it was a 2-2 draw.
“It feels amazing to be honest,” Mensah said. “Since day one we’ve always had a stretch of just stagnant water, so to finally come out and knock them in the mouth and hold our ground was amazing.”
Earlier in the game while playing on the outside, Mensah took inventory of the Wolves’ tendencies, got some ideas and made some adjustments.
“The sophomore up-top, Owen (O’Shea), was not transmitting how they were playing up front so I was like, ‘Can we switch?’,” Mensah said.
“They were consistently moving and being scared of the ball. So I switched with Owen and (their guy) looked scared of me picking him off, and eventually I got the golden cherry.”
The “golden cherry,” came with 4:18 left and tied the game for the Cougars (0-2-2, 0-2-2).
Once Mensah got the ball and slipped past Oswego East goalkeeper Owen Kiilsgaard all he needed to do was send it home without anyone standing in his way. The beauty was the patience his predatory attack showed as he waited for the opportunity to seize the ball and make the crucial play that sent his teammates home happy.
Like Skip in “Bull Durham,” Mensah won’t stand for lollygaggers.
“The goalie was lollygagging, and I don’t really like that stuff when I’m up-top,” Mensah said. “I was just reading the game, and they kept playing it to him and playing it to him.
“So I kept saying, ‘I’m going to pick him off no matter what, I will get you.’ And they played the ball back to him, and he couldn’t touch it up. I saw the ball and just got it and scored.”
It’s the kind of play that earns players enthusiastic fist bumps from teammates, cheers from the fans fortunate to be able to attend despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. and recognition from Chicagoland Soccer, which named Mensah its Man of the Match.
“He just brings a different attitude to the game,” Plainfield South senior Brandon Czurylo said. “When we’re down we’ll fight, but when you have that momentum, he’ll make sure you’re moving up the field and actually playing.”
As the game wound down, Mensah was fired up with optimism that his team could rally. Based on the result, he was dead on.
“I told them before with 10 minutes left to pick up the intensity,” Mensah said “I told them we have it, just focus up.”
What a moment for Mensah and the Cougars and what heartbreak for a Wolves team that lost a 2-0 lead with 6:04 left.
“I’m just disappointed, but to (Plainfield South’s) credit, they capitalized,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “I told our guys this should feel like a loss, and we have the tour of Plainfield this week and our first home game against Yorkville this week.”
Oswego East (0-1-3, 0-1-3) showed signs that its offense can do some damage despite entering the game with just three goals.
“We had a lot of good opportunities, but the mental errors at the end here were disappointing,” Szymanski said. “Defensively, we were solid, but too many mental mistakes cost us.”
The Wolves are a young team with just three seniors so while they are playing this abbreviated season and aiming for success, they also know that the experience they’re gaining, even when it comes after such harsh disappointment, will serve a valuable lesson on the long run.
“That’s what we’re hoping,” Szymanski said. “We have a lot of really good juniors that are getting that experience.”
The Wolves jumped ahead just 4:26 into the action when Kellen Klosterman developed an opportunity from the outside before whipping it in where Ythan Houston headed it in.
They’d expand their lead to 2-0 with 11:52 remaining in the opening half as Carter Boberg received a beautiful feed from Matt Watson. That set up Boberg for a 1v1 opportunity which he buried.
“Both goals were very nice,” Szymanski said. “But I wish we were finishing more.”
Plainfield South found its groove as white-knuckle time approached.
Mensah sent a nice pass to David Sanchez to set up his teammate to break the shutout and give his teammates some faith that they still had a chance to come back in this one.
The goal didn’t come out of nowhere; both teams did their part to try to create offense. While shots were directed toward the net, the game was scoreless for more than 45 minutes until Sanchez made it 2-1.
“I guess we did a couple tactical switches up-front with me in the middle, and I started feeding out wide distributing the ball and the ball started moving around and eventually we got the goal to David,” Mensah said.
“Mel and I have chemistry together, and we’re always practicing the one-twos in practice and ended up getting it off in the game,” Sanchez said. “The wind made it a little harder so I had to put a little more pace on the ball, but I was happy I was able to get it though.”
Sanchez felt as if they were knocking on the door to score all game -- it simply took time and persistence to finally break through.
“We saw we were bringing them down, and the goals weren’t coming, but we were getting shots off,” Sanchez said. “When we eventually got it, it gave us the confidence, and we were being more positive. We got another goal quickly.”
Where was that attitude in the first half?
“Talking to coach at halftime, we were sleeping in the first half and not as confident with the ball and struggling defensively,” Sanchez said. “The second half was completely different, because we were sticking to man-to-man with the opposition and getting attacking chances as well as playing one-twos and much simpler instead of driving in on our own. We were playing as a team more.”
Plainfield South coach Bryant Williams praised the approach.
“I was real happy; I told the guys this was an effort thing tonight,” he said. ”It wasn’t real pretty, but it was the idea that we kept scrapping and battling. We pressed them the second half and finally I think we broke them down, and they made a couple of mistakes. I think it was one of those things where it was a matter of time with our pressure.”
Putting the ball in the net has been a problem for the Cougars so to get two as quickly as they did in such a key moment in the game was both overdue and surprising.
“We’ve have really been snake-bit this year,” Williams said. “We have done everything but put the ball in the net. We had three goals coming into today, and all three were on penalty kicks. Then again we had a corner kick where I thought we were going score, and we had another opportunity where the ball bounced around several times and came out.
“So to finally get some goals in the run of play was huge, and I think it is going to help us going forward.”
Getting strong play in goal will also help. If not for the efforts of Jimmy Anderson in the first half to keep the Cougars deficit to just 2-0, and for Robin Coetzee to keep the Wolves from adding to their lead in the second half, Mensah’s late heroics probably wouldn’t have been enough.
“They both did a real nice job for us and kept us in the game,” Williams said. “And give their keeper credit. I thought we could’ve scored some more goals. Their keeper played a phenomenal game too, so it was good all the way around.”
Because the Cougars were a bit short-handed, they brought up JV players, Renee Saldivar, Brady Pollard and Dylan Harkness.
“We were kind of using a patchwork lineup since we had some guys unavailable to play,” Williams said. “The JV guys saw their first varsity action this year so we had to lean on them pretty heavy tonight.
“We had some injuries, so they stepped up really well. We’ll take this, and we definitely build on what we did in the second half and take the momentum into tomorrow night at Plainfield East.”
The days are passing far too quickly for Plainfield South’s seniors, but they appear to recognize it and are thus taking time to really enjoy it.
“It feels really nice to be out again, because we didn’t have the season in the fall and then we grinded over the fall and winter and came out ready for spring just in case something would happen,” Cougars senior Tyler Purdy said.
“And we’re here right now. It’s great to be here, especially for my last season. It’s one thing to just be practicing with your teammates, but playing as a team and going against opponents is a totally different thing. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
Starting lineups
Oswego East
GK – Owen Kiilsgaard
D – Cael Cummings
D – Jack Conway
D - John Danison
D - Gilberto Mijarez
D - Mauro Hernandesz-Montes
M – Carter Boberg
M - Min Kha
M - Grant Glorioso
M - Kellen Klosterman
F - Ythan Houston
Plainfield South
GK – James Anderson
D – Drew Shelton
D – Tyler Purdy
D – Brandon Czurylo
D – Tommy Garner
M – Owen O’Shea
M – Adriel Rivas
M – Renee Saldivar
M – David Sanchez
F – Haris Pabedinskas
F – Bryan Graham
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Mel Mensah, jr., M, Plainfield South
Scoring summary
First half
Oswego East – Ethan Houston (Kellen Klosterman), 35:34
Oswego East - Carter Boberg (Matt Watson), 11:52
Second half
Plainfield South- David Sanchez (Mel Mensah), 6:04
Plainfield South – Mel Mensah (u/a) 4:18