Late goal surge powers PN past PS
4 goals in last 16:22 gains 5-1 win, tightens hold on SPC lead
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD – Expect the improbable became the theme Tuesday in the key conference showdown when 24th-ranked Plainfield North traveled to Plainfield South on Tuesday.
Freshman Alyssa Grigg’s incredible 20-yard chip in a crowd and into the net for the home team 16:19 before halftime was the first unexpected result.
But it was the visiting Tigers who later provided the decisive improbable chapter to the wild and windy crosstown Southwest Prairie Conference showdown.
With the score tied 1-1 and just 16:22 left, Victoria Thornton’s all-out hustle to save a ball at the end line led to the tiebreaking goal by Jessica Gruben.
Plainfield North (12-2-2, 6-0-0) followed that breakthrough with three more goals, as a tight defensive battle for 60-plus minutes ended in a 5-1 Tigers win over the Cougars (12-4-1, 5-2-0).
“The wind was a huge factor,” Plainfield North senior Abby Gustafson said, “but once we started the (second) half (with the wind), we had most of the possession of the ball, and we were able to keep it on this (offensive) half.
“I kind of knew a goal was coming (tied 1-1). We just had to keep pressing them and pressing them, and it was going to come.”
After sending a shot off the crossbar in the first half, Thornton used great hustle and a perfect pass to make the game-winning chance pay off.
With the wind seemingly certain to carry the long send over the end line and beyond her reach on a right side rush, Thornton broke into a full sprint to keep the ball in play inches from the end line.
Thornton then capped that hustle with a great cross to the front, where Gruben lined a 12-yard shot inside the left post to make it 2-1 Tigers.
“At first I didn’t think she was going to get to it, but she’s ‘V’ (Thornton),” Gruben said. “She can get to every ball. So I kind of got towards the middle and was able to finish.”
The clutch strike was a notable finish for Gruben.
“She’s just a worker bee, a player that with her size she gets unnoticed sometimes,” Tigers coach Steve Berry said. “But she’s going to be around.
“‘V’ worked so hard to keep the ball in play, and Jessie made a great half turn, and a simple, composed finish. That was good to see, and that’s her first goal as a varsity player.”
Said Gruben of the first career goal emotions: “I was very excited. Everyone’s been really supportive, keeping my confidence up because in the beginning of the season I was really nervous. They’ve really helped me.”
Up 2-1, the Tigers were unleashed. Off a Gustafson send from midfield, Molly Grant broke in on a left-side 1-v.-1 chance with 13:58 left and had her own unlikely finish. Losing her balance as she shot, Grant had enough on it to angle the ball inside the far post.
With 8:18 left, a Gustafson shot was deflected out by a defender set up a corner kick. Daelyn Thompson’s ensuing send was headed in from 8 yards by Karlie Sharp to make it 4-1.
Then with 3:52 to go, Abbie Kroll took a Makenna Woodill pass off a throw-in at the right sideline, dribbled in and scored low inside the left post to cap the quick four-goal outburst.
Looking back at the 1-1 tie in the later moments of the half, could the Tigers have pictured a 5-1 win?
“Honestly I just felt like we had the momentum,” said Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Gustafson, who scored the tying goal 4:19 into the second half. “Our coach told us at halftime, ‘We can do this. Goals are coming.’ I just kept thinking that.”
On the Plainfield South side, a solid effort much of the game and 1-0 halftime lead were first erased by Gustafson’s game-tying header off a Renae Blevins corner kick, then overwhelmed by the late flurry.
“The first half we played really well,” Cougars coach Alfonso Lopez said. “We were getting to the ball first, we were controlling a lot of the game.
“And we were able to put the ball in the net, and I think in their (the Tigers’) last five games no one had scored. So props to our girls on that. They fought really hard.”
Thornton’s near-miss of the crossbar 2:35 before the half foreshadowed a Tigers surge as weather conditions turned to their favor.
“In the second half they had the wind at their backs,” Lopez said. “I think some of our girls lost steam, and we had to pull a couple off due to injuries (Grigg just 1:20 into the half, and defender Amaya Silvar with 12:57 to go and the score 3-1). That changed a little bit of the momentum.
“But overall I think the girls did well,” Lopez added. “They shouldn’t hang their heads. The score doesn’t justify how well they played. I wish we had played the way we did in the first half (in the second), but it happens.”
The highlight of that first half and the Cougars’ night belonged to Grigg.
On a scramble in a crowd at the top of the box, the freshman sidestepped into the scrum and footed a high-lofting shot that incredibly sailed perfectly under the crossbar.
“I scored one like that (before),” Grigg said. “I kick it and hope it goes in.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but when it went in I thought it would bring everybody up and that we maybe had the game. We played a good first half.”
Unfortunately for the Cougars, Grigg had to leave with an ankle injury just 26 seconds after her goal. She would start the second half but exit the match for good at the first whistle – although she stressed after the game that it was a minor injury.
“We have other girls that can step in, and they did a good job,” Lopez said.
But in the first half, Grigg was a difference maker all over the pitch.
“She’s been really great to have,” Lopez said. “She plays outside mid for us, and gets up and down the field. She can fly.
“She did a great job defending Thornton that first half when she was out wide. That was one of the things she was focusing on. We told her all about that in practice, and she did a great job. She’s been doing a good job all year.”
With the wind at its backs in the first half, Plainfield South came out strong.
After withstanding a Woodill shot just wide of the net off a nice Gustafson send 2:30 in, the Cougars put pressure on.
Plainfield North goalkeeper Ashley Clark’s diving catch four minutes in of an Emily DeVivo 28-yard shot was followed one minute later by a nice block by Tigers defender Claudia Baginski of a 10-yard Isabel Cerda shot.
“The wind was really impacting where the ball went,” Baginski said, “but during practice we would work on plays and getting out (of the defensive end), and I think that really helped us to move forward.”
Even with the Tigers’ recent shift to a three-forward alignment, the defense has continued to excel.
“We started the three back and that’s really helped us,” Baginski said, “especially with Payton (Strausberger) and Abby in the middle covering to help us and connect forward.”
While enduring the Plainfield South push, the Tigers had their own first half counterattacks.
A Grant rush set up a corner kick in the 18th minute, a nice Blevins corner send that curled towards the crossbar before it was batted off to the side by Cougars goalkeeper Nicole Trenholm.
After Grigg’s goal put the Cougars on top, they just missed on two other quality bids to score.
The first came in the 27th minute, when Jamie Lee Cooper made an offensive zone interception and lined a 25-yard shot just wide left.
Then 9:50 before halftime, the strong wind took Trenholm’s powerful goal kick bouncing all the way into the opposing box. South’s Taylor Metcalf sprinted in, but goalkeeper Clark came out to make a sliding block of Metcalf’s shot attempt 18 yards out.
“We knew that South was a quality team and was going to give us everything they had,” Berry said. “We wanted to come out and match their work ethic. We knew at some point we would get the wind, spread the game out and get around the edge.”
That point came in the second half, and Gustafson quickly helped turn the tide with 35:41 left.
First, her hustle to deflect a 50-50 ball near the box off a Cougars player resulted in a corner kick. Gustafson then headed in Blevins’ ensuing perfect send at the back post to tie the score 1-1.
But after that tying strike, Plainfield South nicely withstood waves of North chances over the next 19 minutes.
Grant lined a 22-yard shot high off the post with 27:45 left, and Trenholm had saves on two other Grant shots inside 25 yards shortly before and after that near-miss.
Other threats included another nice Blevins corner kick with 30:50 left (which just missed Thornton near the back post), a Trenholm save on a 25-yard Blevins shot, and a Gruben shot just over the net off a Grant cross with 23:55 to play.
Battling a powerful offense with the wind in its favor, it was an impressive stand by the Cougars.
“I knew they (the Tigers) came in with a lot of speed,” Cougars center back Christina Schade said, “so I had to take into account that they were faster than me.
“(In the first half) we knew the ball was going to come down faster so you had to come to the ball. But when they had the wind at their back, they definitely had an advantage with their speed up-top. You had to make sure you were making those angle runs and getting back as fast as you can.”
That strategy worked, until Thornton’s great speed began an incredible offensive rush in the final minutes for all of the Tigers.
But even that North surge didn’t dim the positives of a strong 60-plus minute showing for the Cougars.
“We’ve been keeping positive,” Schade said, “and honestly that’s the best thing we’ve done this entire season. We haven’t gotten down on each other, even in games like this.”
Said Grigg: “I feel like next time we just have to keep our heads up. Everyone knows that we can take on a team like North, and just because someone gets a goal it doesn’t mean anything. We have to keep going.”
A balanced attack made slowing down the Tigers even tougher.
“Five goals for five players,” Berry said. “Today was a good day for us overall. When we can click and commit to keeping the ball, we’re tough to defend.
“We keep growing. The kids are buying in to each other and the team, and you get the rewards here.”
The biggest reward is a spot without a loss atop the conference standings.
Click here for updated Southwest Prairie Conference standings
“This win is awesome for us,” Gustafson said. “We knew it was going to be a big game, and now we just want to finish out the conference. I think we have two games left – we want to win those and get the conference championship.”
Said Berry: “This puts us in a good spot in the conference at 6-0-0, but we have some tough opponents coming up. We’re not putting our eggs in one basket by any means, because there are bigger things yet to come for us. We just have to keep taking steps forward.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Ashley Clark
D Kaitlyn Mauder
D Kylee Colwell
D Claudia Baginski
M Renae Blevins
M Abby Gustafson
M Payton Strausberger
M Makenna Woodill
F Victoria Thornton
F Allie Kroll
F Molly Grant
Plainfield South
GK Nicole Trenholm
D Cameron Graham
D Christina Schade
D Amaya Silvar
D Emily Sauder
M Emily DeVivo
M Alyssa Grigg
M Gianna Dodaro
M Ciara Coneset
F Isabel Cerda
F Taylor Metcalf
Chciagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Abby Gustafson, sr. M, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
PS – Alyssa Grigg (unassisted), 23:41
Second half
PN – Abby Gustafson (Renae Blevins assist), 44:19
PN – Jessica Gruben (Victoria Thornton), 63:38
PN – Molly Grant (Gustafson), 66:02
PN – Karlie Sharp (Daelyn Thompson), 71:42
PN – Allie Kroll (Makenna Woodill), 76:08
4 goals in last 16:22 gains 5-1 win, tightens hold on SPC lead
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD – Expect the improbable became the theme Tuesday in the key conference showdown when 24th-ranked Plainfield North traveled to Plainfield South on Tuesday.
Freshman Alyssa Grigg’s incredible 20-yard chip in a crowd and into the net for the home team 16:19 before halftime was the first unexpected result.
But it was the visiting Tigers who later provided the decisive improbable chapter to the wild and windy crosstown Southwest Prairie Conference showdown.
With the score tied 1-1 and just 16:22 left, Victoria Thornton’s all-out hustle to save a ball at the end line led to the tiebreaking goal by Jessica Gruben.
Plainfield North (12-2-2, 6-0-0) followed that breakthrough with three more goals, as a tight defensive battle for 60-plus minutes ended in a 5-1 Tigers win over the Cougars (12-4-1, 5-2-0).
“The wind was a huge factor,” Plainfield North senior Abby Gustafson said, “but once we started the (second) half (with the wind), we had most of the possession of the ball, and we were able to keep it on this (offensive) half.
“I kind of knew a goal was coming (tied 1-1). We just had to keep pressing them and pressing them, and it was going to come.”
After sending a shot off the crossbar in the first half, Thornton used great hustle and a perfect pass to make the game-winning chance pay off.
With the wind seemingly certain to carry the long send over the end line and beyond her reach on a right side rush, Thornton broke into a full sprint to keep the ball in play inches from the end line.
Thornton then capped that hustle with a great cross to the front, where Gruben lined a 12-yard shot inside the left post to make it 2-1 Tigers.
“At first I didn’t think she was going to get to it, but she’s ‘V’ (Thornton),” Gruben said. “She can get to every ball. So I kind of got towards the middle and was able to finish.”
The clutch strike was a notable finish for Gruben.
“She’s just a worker bee, a player that with her size she gets unnoticed sometimes,” Tigers coach Steve Berry said. “But she’s going to be around.
“‘V’ worked so hard to keep the ball in play, and Jessie made a great half turn, and a simple, composed finish. That was good to see, and that’s her first goal as a varsity player.”
Said Gruben of the first career goal emotions: “I was very excited. Everyone’s been really supportive, keeping my confidence up because in the beginning of the season I was really nervous. They’ve really helped me.”
Up 2-1, the Tigers were unleashed. Off a Gustafson send from midfield, Molly Grant broke in on a left-side 1-v.-1 chance with 13:58 left and had her own unlikely finish. Losing her balance as she shot, Grant had enough on it to angle the ball inside the far post.
With 8:18 left, a Gustafson shot was deflected out by a defender set up a corner kick. Daelyn Thompson’s ensuing send was headed in from 8 yards by Karlie Sharp to make it 4-1.
Then with 3:52 to go, Abbie Kroll took a Makenna Woodill pass off a throw-in at the right sideline, dribbled in and scored low inside the left post to cap the quick four-goal outburst.
Looking back at the 1-1 tie in the later moments of the half, could the Tigers have pictured a 5-1 win?
“Honestly I just felt like we had the momentum,” said Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Gustafson, who scored the tying goal 4:19 into the second half. “Our coach told us at halftime, ‘We can do this. Goals are coming.’ I just kept thinking that.”
On the Plainfield South side, a solid effort much of the game and 1-0 halftime lead were first erased by Gustafson’s game-tying header off a Renae Blevins corner kick, then overwhelmed by the late flurry.
“The first half we played really well,” Cougars coach Alfonso Lopez said. “We were getting to the ball first, we were controlling a lot of the game.
“And we were able to put the ball in the net, and I think in their (the Tigers’) last five games no one had scored. So props to our girls on that. They fought really hard.”
Thornton’s near-miss of the crossbar 2:35 before the half foreshadowed a Tigers surge as weather conditions turned to their favor.
“In the second half they had the wind at their backs,” Lopez said. “I think some of our girls lost steam, and we had to pull a couple off due to injuries (Grigg just 1:20 into the half, and defender Amaya Silvar with 12:57 to go and the score 3-1). That changed a little bit of the momentum.
“But overall I think the girls did well,” Lopez added. “They shouldn’t hang their heads. The score doesn’t justify how well they played. I wish we had played the way we did in the first half (in the second), but it happens.”
The highlight of that first half and the Cougars’ night belonged to Grigg.
On a scramble in a crowd at the top of the box, the freshman sidestepped into the scrum and footed a high-lofting shot that incredibly sailed perfectly under the crossbar.
“I scored one like that (before),” Grigg said. “I kick it and hope it goes in.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but when it went in I thought it would bring everybody up and that we maybe had the game. We played a good first half.”
Unfortunately for the Cougars, Grigg had to leave with an ankle injury just 26 seconds after her goal. She would start the second half but exit the match for good at the first whistle – although she stressed after the game that it was a minor injury.
“We have other girls that can step in, and they did a good job,” Lopez said.
But in the first half, Grigg was a difference maker all over the pitch.
“She’s been really great to have,” Lopez said. “She plays outside mid for us, and gets up and down the field. She can fly.
“She did a great job defending Thornton that first half when she was out wide. That was one of the things she was focusing on. We told her all about that in practice, and she did a great job. She’s been doing a good job all year.”
With the wind at its backs in the first half, Plainfield South came out strong.
After withstanding a Woodill shot just wide of the net off a nice Gustafson send 2:30 in, the Cougars put pressure on.
Plainfield North goalkeeper Ashley Clark’s diving catch four minutes in of an Emily DeVivo 28-yard shot was followed one minute later by a nice block by Tigers defender Claudia Baginski of a 10-yard Isabel Cerda shot.
“The wind was really impacting where the ball went,” Baginski said, “but during practice we would work on plays and getting out (of the defensive end), and I think that really helped us to move forward.”
Even with the Tigers’ recent shift to a three-forward alignment, the defense has continued to excel.
“We started the three back and that’s really helped us,” Baginski said, “especially with Payton (Strausberger) and Abby in the middle covering to help us and connect forward.”
While enduring the Plainfield South push, the Tigers had their own first half counterattacks.
A Grant rush set up a corner kick in the 18th minute, a nice Blevins corner send that curled towards the crossbar before it was batted off to the side by Cougars goalkeeper Nicole Trenholm.
After Grigg’s goal put the Cougars on top, they just missed on two other quality bids to score.
The first came in the 27th minute, when Jamie Lee Cooper made an offensive zone interception and lined a 25-yard shot just wide left.
Then 9:50 before halftime, the strong wind took Trenholm’s powerful goal kick bouncing all the way into the opposing box. South’s Taylor Metcalf sprinted in, but goalkeeper Clark came out to make a sliding block of Metcalf’s shot attempt 18 yards out.
“We knew that South was a quality team and was going to give us everything they had,” Berry said. “We wanted to come out and match their work ethic. We knew at some point we would get the wind, spread the game out and get around the edge.”
That point came in the second half, and Gustafson quickly helped turn the tide with 35:41 left.
First, her hustle to deflect a 50-50 ball near the box off a Cougars player resulted in a corner kick. Gustafson then headed in Blevins’ ensuing perfect send at the back post to tie the score 1-1.
But after that tying strike, Plainfield South nicely withstood waves of North chances over the next 19 minutes.
Grant lined a 22-yard shot high off the post with 27:45 left, and Trenholm had saves on two other Grant shots inside 25 yards shortly before and after that near-miss.
Other threats included another nice Blevins corner kick with 30:50 left (which just missed Thornton near the back post), a Trenholm save on a 25-yard Blevins shot, and a Gruben shot just over the net off a Grant cross with 23:55 to play.
Battling a powerful offense with the wind in its favor, it was an impressive stand by the Cougars.
“I knew they (the Tigers) came in with a lot of speed,” Cougars center back Christina Schade said, “so I had to take into account that they were faster than me.
“(In the first half) we knew the ball was going to come down faster so you had to come to the ball. But when they had the wind at their back, they definitely had an advantage with their speed up-top. You had to make sure you were making those angle runs and getting back as fast as you can.”
That strategy worked, until Thornton’s great speed began an incredible offensive rush in the final minutes for all of the Tigers.
But even that North surge didn’t dim the positives of a strong 60-plus minute showing for the Cougars.
“We’ve been keeping positive,” Schade said, “and honestly that’s the best thing we’ve done this entire season. We haven’t gotten down on each other, even in games like this.”
Said Grigg: “I feel like next time we just have to keep our heads up. Everyone knows that we can take on a team like North, and just because someone gets a goal it doesn’t mean anything. We have to keep going.”
A balanced attack made slowing down the Tigers even tougher.
“Five goals for five players,” Berry said. “Today was a good day for us overall. When we can click and commit to keeping the ball, we’re tough to defend.
“We keep growing. The kids are buying in to each other and the team, and you get the rewards here.”
The biggest reward is a spot without a loss atop the conference standings.
Click here for updated Southwest Prairie Conference standings
“This win is awesome for us,” Gustafson said. “We knew it was going to be a big game, and now we just want to finish out the conference. I think we have two games left – we want to win those and get the conference championship.”
Said Berry: “This puts us in a good spot in the conference at 6-0-0, but we have some tough opponents coming up. We’re not putting our eggs in one basket by any means, because there are bigger things yet to come for us. We just have to keep taking steps forward.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK Ashley Clark
D Kaitlyn Mauder
D Kylee Colwell
D Claudia Baginski
M Renae Blevins
M Abby Gustafson
M Payton Strausberger
M Makenna Woodill
F Victoria Thornton
F Allie Kroll
F Molly Grant
Plainfield South
GK Nicole Trenholm
D Cameron Graham
D Christina Schade
D Amaya Silvar
D Emily Sauder
M Emily DeVivo
M Alyssa Grigg
M Gianna Dodaro
M Ciara Coneset
F Isabel Cerda
F Taylor Metcalf
Chciagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Abby Gustafson, sr. M, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
PS – Alyssa Grigg (unassisted), 23:41
Second half
PN – Abby Gustafson (Renae Blevins assist), 44:19
PN – Jessica Gruben (Victoria Thornton), 63:38
PN – Molly Grant (Gustafson), 66:02
PN – Karlie Sharp (Daelyn Thompson), 71:42
PN – Allie Kroll (Makenna Woodill), 76:08