Plainfield North regains touch
against West Aurora
Smith’s 78th-minute goal keys ranked win in SW Prairie
By Patrick Z. McGavin
AURORA -- The glare of the spotlight is punishing and sometimes cruel.
A season of glittering moments suddenly turned uncertain and peculiar for preseason no. 1 Plainfield North.
The Tigers gave up a three-goal second half lead and suffered a shootout loss against no. 14 East Aurora in the championship game of their own Plainfield Classic last Saturday.
That followed tough games against Oswego and Oswego East in Southwest Prairie action.
The 2-1 loss against Oswego East marked their first in conference. To make matters worse, star forward Cooper Allen was hit with a “soft red” after accumulating two yellow cards, which meant he was unavailable in the showdown with West Aurora.
“The season is what the season is,” Plainfield North coach Lukasz Majewski said. “You’re going to have your moments of glory, and you’re going to have your moments of trying to fix or work things out.
“We’re going through that moment.”
With their backs against the wall, the Tigers responded with purpose, tenacity and impressive composure.
Defender Aidan Smith elevated and smashed home a header off a corner kick to give no. 9 Plainfield North a 2-1 comeback road victory over 23rd-ranked West Aurora on Saturday afternoon.
Plainfield North (13-3-0, 4-1-0) made a compelling statement.
Smith was dynamite at both ends, helping slow down and nullify Blackhawks’ elite forward Omar Rashidi.
He earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his brilliant two-way effort.
After pressure by Ryan Bechtel created a deflection and the resulting corner kick from the left edge, Justin Williams made the beautiful service for the game-winning sequence.
“Justin usually tries to find either me or Brady Harwood, and we switch off going either front or back post,” Smith said.
“With all the long throws we had, Brady just decided he was going to run to the front post, and that left me with the back.”
With Plainfield North, West Aurora, no. 18 Romeoville, Oswego East and a punishing middle corps. of teams, the Southwest Prairie Conference stands with the Silver Division of the West Suburban Conference and the Central Suburban League South Division as the strongest, deepest soccer conferences.
Smith said the 2-1 loss Thursday against Oswego East created a profound sense of urgency.
“We were shaky in the back almost the whole game against Oswego East,” he said.
“In practice Friday, we all sat down, and we got on the same page. Today we came in with intensity, and we were ready to go and play soccer.”
West Aurora is the newest member of the conference. The Blackhawks have already developed a sharp rivalry with the Tigers.
During the pandemic spring season last year, the Blackhawks completed a 19-0-0 year by defeating the Tigers’ 2-1 in the conference championship game.
“It’s always a one-goal game this way or that way,” Majewski said. “Today the ball bounced our way at the very end, and we were able to put one away.”
The Rashidi brothers, forward Omari and midfielder Ayub, are the central figures of the West Aurora attack.
Both are wiry, fast, elusive in space and great with the ball. Omari is a more natural scorer. Ayub is a whirling dervish of activity.
After much intense back-and-forth activity from both sides beyond the scoreless first half, Ayub Rashidi nearly put the Blackhawks up with a rocket ball from just outside the box that deflected off the bar and away.
A minute later, the Blackhawks struck for real.
Pacifique Ndayishimiye, another fast, mobile and electric talent, is the Blackhawks’ set piece ace. His long throws create tremendous pressure.
In the 57th minute, he got control of a ball that pulled Tigers’ keeper Peyton Meyers out of the box.
He made a quick switch to midfielder Omar Juarez, who drilled home a ball from 12 yards for the Blackhawks’ 1-0 lead.
“Hector Huerta made the first pass, and the guy in front of me went to step in front of the keeper, and that left the space open,” Ndayishimiye said.
“I just got the ball to him.”
To that point, Plainfield North was dangerous though slightly off the mark. Justin Williams had a couple of dangerous free kicks that sailed just over the bar.
The team felt the absence of Allen.
“Cooper is the catalyst who makes everything go,” Majewski said. “We’ve put up the numbers we have because he is a big part of what we do.
“We play through him, we find him, and he creates so many different things.”
Paul McCormick, in his first year with the Tigers after transferring from Naperville North, took the initiative.
In the 59th minute, he made a quick move to get to the left edge and delivered the perfect cross that forward Emmanuel Saldivar finished with a header.
New momentum, new game, and a fresh start for the Tigers.
“You can’t ever drop your head in the middle of the game,” McCormick said. “You always have to keep going.
“We weren’t really getting into the box too much during the first half. Cooper is the player who gets into the box a lot. I had to step up. We had to put more pressure on them and test their keeper.”
On the other end of the field, Plainfield North’s keeper Meyers had a good day. He was sharp, commanding and finished with six saves.
“Every time there’s a ball in the box, if it’s inside the six, I’m going to save it,” he said.
“Today was definitely a good bounce-back game after a rough week, especially coming back on somebody else’s turf.”
By contrast, the Blackhawks are playing their fifth string keeper, Jorge Reta, due to injuries and illness.
“He was our second team junior varsity keeper,” West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said.
“No excuses. Next man up. He has had two shutouts playing two and a half games. Today he got baptized by fire.”
Sustersic said the Blackhawks were haunted by missed chances and the failure to realize early opportunities.
“We had our chances,” he said. “When we have a chance to score goals, we have to score goals. We have to improve on that.
“They’re not preseason no. 1 by accident. If you look at our three losses and four ties, I think all seven are against teams in the Top 50.”
A comeback win over a ranked team is just what Plainfield North needed, Majewski said.
The vicissitudes of a long and grinding season issue their own challenges and rewards.
“We want to get back to how we were playing at the beginning of the season. The last couple of games we sputtered a little bit, but today you could see they were playing for each other,” he said.
“As soon as you understand, you’re not playing for me but the guy next to you, that’s a big thing. If that continues to happen, we’re going to be on the positive side.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Peyton Meyers
D: Ryan Bechtel
D: Ryan Mauder
D: Aidan Smith
D: Brady Harwood
MF: Sean Elster
MF: Justin Williams
MF: Paul McCormick
MF: Matthew Hipolito
F: Timi Usikalu
F: Emmanuel Saldivar
West Aurora
GK: Jorge Reta
D: Blake Studdard
D: Miss Mattrell
D: Pacifique Ndayishimiye
D: Jose Acevedo
MF: Hector Huerta
MF: Isaac Romero
MF: Loretto Lopez
F: Matthew Lopez-Martinez
F: Power Selemani
F: Anthony Abundez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Aidan Smith, jr., D, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
WA: Omar Juarez (Pacifique Ndayishimiye), 57th minute
PN: Emmanuel Saldivar (Paul McCormick), 59th minute
PN: Aidan Smith (Justin Williams), 78th minute
against West Aurora
Smith’s 78th-minute goal keys ranked win in SW Prairie
By Patrick Z. McGavin
AURORA -- The glare of the spotlight is punishing and sometimes cruel.
A season of glittering moments suddenly turned uncertain and peculiar for preseason no. 1 Plainfield North.
The Tigers gave up a three-goal second half lead and suffered a shootout loss against no. 14 East Aurora in the championship game of their own Plainfield Classic last Saturday.
That followed tough games against Oswego and Oswego East in Southwest Prairie action.
The 2-1 loss against Oswego East marked their first in conference. To make matters worse, star forward Cooper Allen was hit with a “soft red” after accumulating two yellow cards, which meant he was unavailable in the showdown with West Aurora.
“The season is what the season is,” Plainfield North coach Lukasz Majewski said. “You’re going to have your moments of glory, and you’re going to have your moments of trying to fix or work things out.
“We’re going through that moment.”
With their backs against the wall, the Tigers responded with purpose, tenacity and impressive composure.
Defender Aidan Smith elevated and smashed home a header off a corner kick to give no. 9 Plainfield North a 2-1 comeback road victory over 23rd-ranked West Aurora on Saturday afternoon.
Plainfield North (13-3-0, 4-1-0) made a compelling statement.
Smith was dynamite at both ends, helping slow down and nullify Blackhawks’ elite forward Omar Rashidi.
He earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his brilliant two-way effort.
After pressure by Ryan Bechtel created a deflection and the resulting corner kick from the left edge, Justin Williams made the beautiful service for the game-winning sequence.
“Justin usually tries to find either me or Brady Harwood, and we switch off going either front or back post,” Smith said.
“With all the long throws we had, Brady just decided he was going to run to the front post, and that left me with the back.”
With Plainfield North, West Aurora, no. 18 Romeoville, Oswego East and a punishing middle corps. of teams, the Southwest Prairie Conference stands with the Silver Division of the West Suburban Conference and the Central Suburban League South Division as the strongest, deepest soccer conferences.
Smith said the 2-1 loss Thursday against Oswego East created a profound sense of urgency.
“We were shaky in the back almost the whole game against Oswego East,” he said.
“In practice Friday, we all sat down, and we got on the same page. Today we came in with intensity, and we were ready to go and play soccer.”
West Aurora is the newest member of the conference. The Blackhawks have already developed a sharp rivalry with the Tigers.
During the pandemic spring season last year, the Blackhawks completed a 19-0-0 year by defeating the Tigers’ 2-1 in the conference championship game.
“It’s always a one-goal game this way or that way,” Majewski said. “Today the ball bounced our way at the very end, and we were able to put one away.”
The Rashidi brothers, forward Omari and midfielder Ayub, are the central figures of the West Aurora attack.
Both are wiry, fast, elusive in space and great with the ball. Omari is a more natural scorer. Ayub is a whirling dervish of activity.
After much intense back-and-forth activity from both sides beyond the scoreless first half, Ayub Rashidi nearly put the Blackhawks up with a rocket ball from just outside the box that deflected off the bar and away.
A minute later, the Blackhawks struck for real.
Pacifique Ndayishimiye, another fast, mobile and electric talent, is the Blackhawks’ set piece ace. His long throws create tremendous pressure.
In the 57th minute, he got control of a ball that pulled Tigers’ keeper Peyton Meyers out of the box.
He made a quick switch to midfielder Omar Juarez, who drilled home a ball from 12 yards for the Blackhawks’ 1-0 lead.
“Hector Huerta made the first pass, and the guy in front of me went to step in front of the keeper, and that left the space open,” Ndayishimiye said.
“I just got the ball to him.”
To that point, Plainfield North was dangerous though slightly off the mark. Justin Williams had a couple of dangerous free kicks that sailed just over the bar.
The team felt the absence of Allen.
“Cooper is the catalyst who makes everything go,” Majewski said. “We’ve put up the numbers we have because he is a big part of what we do.
“We play through him, we find him, and he creates so many different things.”
Paul McCormick, in his first year with the Tigers after transferring from Naperville North, took the initiative.
In the 59th minute, he made a quick move to get to the left edge and delivered the perfect cross that forward Emmanuel Saldivar finished with a header.
New momentum, new game, and a fresh start for the Tigers.
“You can’t ever drop your head in the middle of the game,” McCormick said. “You always have to keep going.
“We weren’t really getting into the box too much during the first half. Cooper is the player who gets into the box a lot. I had to step up. We had to put more pressure on them and test their keeper.”
On the other end of the field, Plainfield North’s keeper Meyers had a good day. He was sharp, commanding and finished with six saves.
“Every time there’s a ball in the box, if it’s inside the six, I’m going to save it,” he said.
“Today was definitely a good bounce-back game after a rough week, especially coming back on somebody else’s turf.”
By contrast, the Blackhawks are playing their fifth string keeper, Jorge Reta, due to injuries and illness.
“He was our second team junior varsity keeper,” West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said.
“No excuses. Next man up. He has had two shutouts playing two and a half games. Today he got baptized by fire.”
Sustersic said the Blackhawks were haunted by missed chances and the failure to realize early opportunities.
“We had our chances,” he said. “When we have a chance to score goals, we have to score goals. We have to improve on that.
“They’re not preseason no. 1 by accident. If you look at our three losses and four ties, I think all seven are against teams in the Top 50.”
A comeback win over a ranked team is just what Plainfield North needed, Majewski said.
The vicissitudes of a long and grinding season issue their own challenges and rewards.
“We want to get back to how we were playing at the beginning of the season. The last couple of games we sputtered a little bit, but today you could see they were playing for each other,” he said.
“As soon as you understand, you’re not playing for me but the guy next to you, that’s a big thing. If that continues to happen, we’re going to be on the positive side.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Peyton Meyers
D: Ryan Bechtel
D: Ryan Mauder
D: Aidan Smith
D: Brady Harwood
MF: Sean Elster
MF: Justin Williams
MF: Paul McCormick
MF: Matthew Hipolito
F: Timi Usikalu
F: Emmanuel Saldivar
West Aurora
GK: Jorge Reta
D: Blake Studdard
D: Miss Mattrell
D: Pacifique Ndayishimiye
D: Jose Acevedo
MF: Hector Huerta
MF: Isaac Romero
MF: Loretto Lopez
F: Matthew Lopez-Martinez
F: Power Selemani
F: Anthony Abundez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Aidan Smith, jr., D, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
WA: Omar Juarez (Pacifique Ndayishimiye), 57th minute
PN: Emmanuel Saldivar (Paul McCormick), 59th minute
PN: Aidan Smith (Justin Williams), 78th minute