North ousts South on Plainfield penalties
Tigers avenge regular season loss, advance to face Plainfield C.
By Matt Le Cren
PLAINFIELD -- Plainfield South’s final penalty kick soared high over the crossbar into the darkness.
Seconds later, the faces of Plainfield North’s players lit up like Christmas trees as they stormed the field Monday night.
The miss concluded an exciting Class 3A regional quarterfinal match between the District 202 rivals. Underdog Plainfield North, seeded four spots lower than host Plainfield South, prevailed 4-3 on penalty kicks after the teams tied 2-2 after overtime. The win avenged a 1-0 defeat 13 days earlier.
Plainfield North, the 18th seed at the Naperville North Sectional, hosts third-seeded Plainfield Central in a regional semifinal Wednesday.
“It just is awful that this is the way we have to decide the game, but at some point you can’t keep playing all night,” Plainfield South coach Bryant Williams said.
“It’s just unfortunate.
“I feel bad for our seniors. They really gave it all they had this year.”
The quartet of Ramon Ochoa, fellow forward Anthony Cervelli, midfielder Dominic Skrip and goalkeeper Quinton Rose was the catalyst for a solid turnaround season for the Cougars (11-8-1), who just missed doubling their win total from 2016 had they knocked off the Tigers. They were 6-14-0 a year ago.
But Skrip, who suffered a concussion last Wednesday, and forward Gabe Sandoval, both sat out the game with injuries.
“We came in a little shorthanded,” Williams said. “Skrip kind of led us all year so we were missing him in the middle. Kind of everything in our offense runs through him all year.
“Then we found out today that one of our other starting forwards, Gabe Sandoval, might have fractured ribs. So we were down two key players coming in.
“We’re really proud of the effort the boys gave. We battled hard for 100 minutes against them.”
The Cougars outshot the Tigers 18-6, including 8-1 in the second half, which was completely one-sided.
South twice rallied from a one-goal difference, tying the game 2-2 on a goal by Carlos Sangols with 11:48 remaining in regulation.
Fellow sophomore Ryan Kabaker triggered the play when he sent a free kick from midfield deep into the North box. Tigers goalkeeper Calvin Cangilla came out and outleaped a Cougar to punch it toward the top of the box, but Sangols intercepted it and quickly slotted a shot inside the left post.
Despite putting on plenty of pressure, the Cougars could not score again.
“As I told the boys, we were just really unlucky,” Williams said.” Especially that first 10 minutes of overtime I felt like we really dominated.
“We created some chances. We just couldn’t get the ball in the net.”
That misfortune continued in the shootout as the Tigers (8-16-0) quickly took a 2-0 lead. Brian Bertoni and Ryley Burich converted their kicks for North.
Anthony Marmolejo got the Cougars on the board and each team’s third shooter – North’s Kanon Woodill and South’s Christian Gonzalez – made their kicks as the Tigers led 3-2 after three rounds.
Rose, whom Williams said is being recruited by Northern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago, then stopped North freshman Shea Bechtel and Sagols converted to pull the Cougars even.
Rose also guessed right and got a hand on Nathan Green’s rocket, but it went into the net to put the Tigers ahead to stay.
“We were frustrated with ourselves (after overtime) but we were still confident,” Green said. “We knew what to do, we were controlled, and we were good. We came to finish what we started.”
Green did that with a confident strike.
“(I was) just going up there (and you have to) know where you are going and just (have) no regrets,” Green said. “Just pick your spots and stick with it.”
That’s what Burich, who scored the game’s first goal in the first half, did despite some sweaty palms.
“It’s definitely a lot of nerves,” Burich said. “But I know that I have to step up there and be cool and collected and just shoot my shot.”
Burich’s 10-yard shot over Rose’s head gave the Tigers a surprising 1-0 lead at the 28:27 mark of the opening half.
“Getting that first goal early I think really gave us the momentum,” Burich said. “We knew we had to get a result to continue the season.”
South tied it less than five minutes later on Marmolejo’s 23-yard free kick, but the Tigers struck again with 17:08 left on a great give-and-go up the left side.
Outside back Oliver Fisher passed ahead to Adan Juarez, who quickly sent the ball forward as Fisher made an overlap run. Fisher beat the defense into the left side of the box and put the Tigers up 2-1 with a smart finish that seemed to surprise the Cougars.
“I think it did,” Burich said. “It’s really hard for teams to pick up, especially when an outside back comes into the attack and gets around (the defense) like that. I think that really caught them by surprise, but it was a good run.”
The Tigers, who have won four of their last five, hope to continue their playoff run with another upset. Plainfield Central should be a heavy favorite but they are playing a road game against the Tigers, who played the Wildcats tough in a 3-1 double-overtime loss on Sept. 30.
“When we played them last time, we did pretty well in shutting them down, but I think one of big things will be possession,” Burich said. “We kind of gave some square balls across the back away, which contributed a lot to the loss.”
So will the Tigers be ready to spring an upset?
“We’ll be ready for them,” Green said. “We played well against them (in the first game), but we just fell short in overtime. I think some of our players got kind of tired.”
The only thing the Tigers are tired of now is losing. They are struggling through an uncharacteristically tough season but are playing their best soccer at the right time.
“We thought we were going to be really good this year,” Green said. “We started off good, got a little bit slow in the middle and then we figured out our tempo and what we were going to do. We came back.”
Despite the opening round loss, this was a bounce-back season for the Cougars, who have nine juniors who figure to make up a strong senior class in 2018.
“There is a lot to be excited about,” Williams said. “Right now I feel bad for our seniors, but all our defenders will be back, even some of the guys we brought in off the bench.
“We’ll have a lot more seniors than we had this year.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Calvin Cangilla
D Kanon Woodill
D Oliver Fisher
D Jared Osbourne
M Yousef Ismail
M Nathan Green
M Patrick Elster
M Shea Bechtel
F Ryley Burich
F Dilan Anweiler
F Brian Bertoni
Plainfield South
GK Quinton Rose
D Xavier Ordaz
D Ryan Kabaker
D Justin McGuigan
D Maxwell Treptow
M Vincent Nirchi
M Christian Gonzalez
M Josue Jimenez
F Anthony Marmolejo
F Ramon Ochoa
F Anthony Cervelli
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Ryley Burich, F, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
1st Half
Plainfield North – Ryley Burich 28:27
Plainfield South – Anthony Marmolejo 23:48
Plainfield North – Oliver Fisher (Adan Juarez) 17:08
2nd Half
Plainfield South – Carlos Sagols 11:48
Penalty kicks (Plainfield North won 4-3)
Plainfield North – Brian Bertoni goal
Plainfield South – Josue Jimenez miss
Plainfield North – Ryley Burich goal
Plainfield South – Anthony Marmolejo goal
Plainfield North – Kanon Woodill goal
Plainfield South – Christian Gonzalez goal
Plainfield North – Shea Bechtel saved
Plainfield South – Carlos Sagols goal
Plainfield North – Nathan Green goal
Plainfield South – Ramon Ochoa miss
Tigers avenge regular season loss, advance to face Plainfield C.
By Matt Le Cren
PLAINFIELD -- Plainfield South’s final penalty kick soared high over the crossbar into the darkness.
Seconds later, the faces of Plainfield North’s players lit up like Christmas trees as they stormed the field Monday night.
The miss concluded an exciting Class 3A regional quarterfinal match between the District 202 rivals. Underdog Plainfield North, seeded four spots lower than host Plainfield South, prevailed 4-3 on penalty kicks after the teams tied 2-2 after overtime. The win avenged a 1-0 defeat 13 days earlier.
Plainfield North, the 18th seed at the Naperville North Sectional, hosts third-seeded Plainfield Central in a regional semifinal Wednesday.
“It just is awful that this is the way we have to decide the game, but at some point you can’t keep playing all night,” Plainfield South coach Bryant Williams said.
“It’s just unfortunate.
“I feel bad for our seniors. They really gave it all they had this year.”
The quartet of Ramon Ochoa, fellow forward Anthony Cervelli, midfielder Dominic Skrip and goalkeeper Quinton Rose was the catalyst for a solid turnaround season for the Cougars (11-8-1), who just missed doubling their win total from 2016 had they knocked off the Tigers. They were 6-14-0 a year ago.
But Skrip, who suffered a concussion last Wednesday, and forward Gabe Sandoval, both sat out the game with injuries.
“We came in a little shorthanded,” Williams said. “Skrip kind of led us all year so we were missing him in the middle. Kind of everything in our offense runs through him all year.
“Then we found out today that one of our other starting forwards, Gabe Sandoval, might have fractured ribs. So we were down two key players coming in.
“We’re really proud of the effort the boys gave. We battled hard for 100 minutes against them.”
The Cougars outshot the Tigers 18-6, including 8-1 in the second half, which was completely one-sided.
South twice rallied from a one-goal difference, tying the game 2-2 on a goal by Carlos Sangols with 11:48 remaining in regulation.
Fellow sophomore Ryan Kabaker triggered the play when he sent a free kick from midfield deep into the North box. Tigers goalkeeper Calvin Cangilla came out and outleaped a Cougar to punch it toward the top of the box, but Sangols intercepted it and quickly slotted a shot inside the left post.
Despite putting on plenty of pressure, the Cougars could not score again.
“As I told the boys, we were just really unlucky,” Williams said.” Especially that first 10 minutes of overtime I felt like we really dominated.
“We created some chances. We just couldn’t get the ball in the net.”
That misfortune continued in the shootout as the Tigers (8-16-0) quickly took a 2-0 lead. Brian Bertoni and Ryley Burich converted their kicks for North.
Anthony Marmolejo got the Cougars on the board and each team’s third shooter – North’s Kanon Woodill and South’s Christian Gonzalez – made their kicks as the Tigers led 3-2 after three rounds.
Rose, whom Williams said is being recruited by Northern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago, then stopped North freshman Shea Bechtel and Sagols converted to pull the Cougars even.
Rose also guessed right and got a hand on Nathan Green’s rocket, but it went into the net to put the Tigers ahead to stay.
“We were frustrated with ourselves (after overtime) but we were still confident,” Green said. “We knew what to do, we were controlled, and we were good. We came to finish what we started.”
Green did that with a confident strike.
“(I was) just going up there (and you have to) know where you are going and just (have) no regrets,” Green said. “Just pick your spots and stick with it.”
That’s what Burich, who scored the game’s first goal in the first half, did despite some sweaty palms.
“It’s definitely a lot of nerves,” Burich said. “But I know that I have to step up there and be cool and collected and just shoot my shot.”
Burich’s 10-yard shot over Rose’s head gave the Tigers a surprising 1-0 lead at the 28:27 mark of the opening half.
“Getting that first goal early I think really gave us the momentum,” Burich said. “We knew we had to get a result to continue the season.”
South tied it less than five minutes later on Marmolejo’s 23-yard free kick, but the Tigers struck again with 17:08 left on a great give-and-go up the left side.
Outside back Oliver Fisher passed ahead to Adan Juarez, who quickly sent the ball forward as Fisher made an overlap run. Fisher beat the defense into the left side of the box and put the Tigers up 2-1 with a smart finish that seemed to surprise the Cougars.
“I think it did,” Burich said. “It’s really hard for teams to pick up, especially when an outside back comes into the attack and gets around (the defense) like that. I think that really caught them by surprise, but it was a good run.”
The Tigers, who have won four of their last five, hope to continue their playoff run with another upset. Plainfield Central should be a heavy favorite but they are playing a road game against the Tigers, who played the Wildcats tough in a 3-1 double-overtime loss on Sept. 30.
“When we played them last time, we did pretty well in shutting them down, but I think one of big things will be possession,” Burich said. “We kind of gave some square balls across the back away, which contributed a lot to the loss.”
So will the Tigers be ready to spring an upset?
“We’ll be ready for them,” Green said. “We played well against them (in the first game), but we just fell short in overtime. I think some of our players got kind of tired.”
The only thing the Tigers are tired of now is losing. They are struggling through an uncharacteristically tough season but are playing their best soccer at the right time.
“We thought we were going to be really good this year,” Green said. “We started off good, got a little bit slow in the middle and then we figured out our tempo and what we were going to do. We came back.”
Despite the opening round loss, this was a bounce-back season for the Cougars, who have nine juniors who figure to make up a strong senior class in 2018.
“There is a lot to be excited about,” Williams said. “Right now I feel bad for our seniors, but all our defenders will be back, even some of the guys we brought in off the bench.
“We’ll have a lot more seniors than we had this year.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Calvin Cangilla
D Kanon Woodill
D Oliver Fisher
D Jared Osbourne
M Yousef Ismail
M Nathan Green
M Patrick Elster
M Shea Bechtel
F Ryley Burich
F Dilan Anweiler
F Brian Bertoni
Plainfield South
GK Quinton Rose
D Xavier Ordaz
D Ryan Kabaker
D Justin McGuigan
D Maxwell Treptow
M Vincent Nirchi
M Christian Gonzalez
M Josue Jimenez
F Anthony Marmolejo
F Ramon Ochoa
F Anthony Cervelli
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Ryley Burich, F, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
1st Half
Plainfield North – Ryley Burich 28:27
Plainfield South – Anthony Marmolejo 23:48
Plainfield North – Oliver Fisher (Adan Juarez) 17:08
2nd Half
Plainfield South – Carlos Sagols 11:48
Penalty kicks (Plainfield North won 4-3)
Plainfield North – Brian Bertoni goal
Plainfield South – Josue Jimenez miss
Plainfield North – Ryley Burich goal
Plainfield South – Anthony Marmolejo goal
Plainfield North – Kanon Woodill goal
Plainfield South – Christian Gonzalez goal
Plainfield North – Shea Bechtel saved
Plainfield South – Carlos Sagols goal
Plainfield North – Nathan Green goal
Plainfield South – Ramon Ochoa miss