2nd half offensive wave powers Plainfield N.
5-goal outburst leads Tigers past Romeoville
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD – A rash of early-season injuries and absences has produced a sometimes maddening March for Plainfield North.
“We’ve been struggling,” Tigers coach Steve Berry said. “We’ve got five people still not back yet for us. Our goalkeeper (Ashley Clark) is out until mid-April.
“So we’re just trying to piece things together and stay afloat until the middle part of the year.”
But by all appearances, the last 32 minutes of Tuesday’s match looked more like a tidal wave than a team treading water.
Locked in a 0-0 tie with Romeoville (2-4-0), the host Tigers (2-3-1, 2-0-0) erupted for five goals in the next 23 minutes to turn a first half defensive struggle into a 5-1 Southwest Prairie Conference win.
“I think we just clicked,” Tigers junior forward Lindsey Dusatko said of the second half outburst. “We played more as a team and went to attack more.”
Dusatko (goal, two assists) and sophomore speedster Jessie Gruben (goal, assist) were the main battering rams that reduced the once-sturdy Romeoville defense to rubble.
“Once we got the one goal (with 31:13 left to play) we were able to get a bunch more,” Gruben said. “We work pretty well together – the Dynamic Duo.”
Gruben punctuated the last part of that quote by sharing a fist bump and a laugh with Dusatko. But the figurative punch Gruben provided on the field left Romeoville reeling.
“The second half it was definitely their speed,” Spartans coach Phil Wicyk said. “They changed that number 18 (Gruben) up to forward from outside mid, and I was telling our girls -- she’s something else. She’s quick as all heck.
“She gets the ball at her feet, she goes hard, and she’s quick. Their game-changer was definitely 18. We had no answer for her up-top. She gets the ball, and we have to draw another defender to her, and then they lay it off to the outside. And that’s what it was.”
Dusatko and Gruben were table-setters on Plainfield North’s first goal. Dusatko made a left-side run and sent a cross to Gruben in the box, whose touch pass towards the crease found freshman Natalie Drover free at the doorstep for her first career varsity goal.
“It was a good run that Natalie stuck with from a wide spot,” Tigers coach Steve Berry said. “She just kept at it (on her run) and put it in. That was nice to see.”
Things began to look even better for the Tigers with 22:15 to go, when another swarming of the net made the lead 2-0.
On a play initiated by a nice pass upfield by senior co-captain Claudia Baginski (in her season debut after an injury delay), Madi Buck’s initial shot was saved. But Dusatko was there for the point-blank rebound putaway.
“We were a little worried (with the score 0-0),” Dusatko said. “We should have put a few in the back of the net in the first half, but once we got it rolling in the second half we just kept going.”
The blitz continued with 20:15 to go, when Romeoville goalkeeper Elizabeth Vitel came off her line to block a long send away from the box -- only to have Plainfield North’s Reese Capion send a long rebound just wide of the open right post.
Just 25 seconds later, a loose ball in the box produced different results – a Gruben 8-yard drive into the lower right corner of the net for a 3-0 score.
But just when it appeared the Tigers were taking control, Romeoville had an answer.
After a Tigers foul left of the box, the ensuing free kick by Romeoville’s Valeria Valles connected with teammate Alexa Olvera in the crease for a point-blank goal and a 3-1 score with 17:15 left.
“We had a nice response there,” Wicyk said. “It was good to see my girls fight.”
But continuing to go deep into its pool of young talent, Plainfield North found another new offensive star in Marissa Richmond.
Just 47 seconds after Romeoville’s goal, Dusatko fielded a send to the box and set up sophomore Richmond left of the net for a 12-yard liner and a 4-1 margin.
Then with 9:14 to go, Dusatko nicely won a throw-in at the top of the box. She again hit Richmond with a pass to the left of the net, and Richmond’s second goal in seven minutes capped an explosive run for the Tigers.
Like Drover, Richmond hadn’t scored a varsity goal until Tuesday.
“Marissa has just come back from a really bad ankle injury,” Berry said. “This is her second game, and she scored twice
Such breakthroughs for underclassmen have been the norm for a young Tigers squad.
“We play a lot of really young kids, sophomores and freshmen,” Berry said. “There are a good eight that see a ton of time.
“We’re playing five (freshmen), and one of them Nina Bradshaw is gone right now playing for Illinois ODP (Olympic Development Program). So we don’t even have our top scorer. She’s with the regional team in Spain.”
A newcomer to the Tigers herself after two years playing club, Dusatko has been impressed by the wave of freshmen talent.
“They are doing amazing,” she said. “This is our sixth game, so we’re just trying to work hard and keep progressing through the season.
“I think once we get everyone back and healthy that we’re going to do really good and hopefully go undefeated in conference.”
With Clark sidelined by foot and hand injuries, freshman Makayla Mussatto has emerged at goalkeeper.
“This was Makayla’s second game with us,” Berry said. “The other four (games) we played with field players (in goal).
“She’s stepped up this year as a goalkeeper. She’s not even a veteran club goalie.”
Offensively, being shorthanded and inexperienced hasn’t prevented the Tigers from beginning to show their teeth.
“At the beginning of the season none of us had really played with each other that much before,” Gruben said. “So it was a little difficult trying to get it going. But I think as the season has gone on we’ve started to play really well up top together.”
Said Dusatko: “I think we only have four starters from last season. It’s a new team, so I think we’re going to continue to bond pretty good throughout the season.”
The Tigers’ upperclassmen have helped set the tone.
“We have good leadership from our seniors Makenna, Claudia and Ann Marie (Krusiewicz),” Berry said. “They’ve led us in a position to make everybody feel welcome and put players in a situation where they can succeed.
“Lindsey played club in the past, and she’s a good leader as well. And other people like Jessie and Allie (Kroll) who played last year as freshmen, through last season and our workouts last summer and winter, they’re now veterans to us.”
Tuesday’s five-goal second half explosion followed a much more tightly played first half.
The first five minutes featured a trio of Woodill corner kicks, then a Dusatko low 12-yard drive in the 11th minute denied by Vitel’s one-handed sliding block.
Good chances later in the half were produced by Baginski (25-yarder just wide), Dusatko (15-yarder grabbed by Vitel) and McKenna Kalina (high 30-yard free kick grabbed by a leaping Vitel in the 36th minute). But the score remained nil-nil at the half.
“Honestly the first 40 minutes we had a game plan,” Wicyk said. “We wanted to eliminate the number of chances they had, and it kind of looked like kick ball in the first half. We wanted to get it out of our defensive end as quick as possible and try to counter, and in the first half we had a couple of opportunities.
“I know Valeria (Valles) had a chance there (a 1-v.-1 drive and shot wide right in the 34th minute), and I think Yammy (Perez) or Kalie (Rice) too. There weren’t many but getting those two chances against a quality team is what we’re looking for.”
Then came the Tigers’ go-ahead goal nine minutes into the second half, and the tone of the game quickly changed.
“I think we just got gassed,” Wicyk said. “I told (my team), ‘You can’t play 60 minutes. You have to play 80 minutes in a varsity game.’ And they (Plainfield North) played 80 minutes, and we played 60.”
With the bulk of the season ahead and more talent on the way, Plainfield North hopes plenty more enjoyable 80-minute performances are still to come.
“We have our next game Thursday,” Dusatko said, “so hopefully we play like we did the second half throughout that whole game.”
Said Berry: “It was nice for us to come out and score some goals. And we haven’t even started some of the kids who will start for us once April comes.
“We’ve already played some really hard teams, and to just keep putting together the right mindset and keep going in the right direction is where we want to be right now.”
Starting lineups
Romeoville
GK: Elizabeth Vitel
D: Valentina Cruz
D: Jennifer Perez
D: Christine Bello
D: Adamari Canera
M: Delaney Patterson
M: Dorimar Quintanna
M: Kalie Rice
M: Yamilet Perez
F: Valeria Valles
F: Alyssa Lizotte
Plainfield North
GK: Makayla Mussatto
D: Marissa Richmond
D: Payton Strausberger
D: Makenna Woodill
D: Madi Buck
M: Reese Capion
M: McKenna Kalina
M: Ann Marie Krusiewicz
M: Lauryn Tillmon
F: Lindsey Dusatko
F: Allie Kroll
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Jessie Gruben, so. F, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
PN – Natalie Drover (Jessie Gruben), 49th minute
PN – Lindsey Dusatko, 58th minute
PN – Gruben, 61st minute
Rom – Alyssa Lizotte (Kalie Rice), 63rd minute
PN – Marissa Richmond (Dusatko), 64th minute
PN – Richmond (Dusatko), 71st minute
5-goal outburst leads Tigers past Romeoville
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD – A rash of early-season injuries and absences has produced a sometimes maddening March for Plainfield North.
“We’ve been struggling,” Tigers coach Steve Berry said. “We’ve got five people still not back yet for us. Our goalkeeper (Ashley Clark) is out until mid-April.
“So we’re just trying to piece things together and stay afloat until the middle part of the year.”
But by all appearances, the last 32 minutes of Tuesday’s match looked more like a tidal wave than a team treading water.
Locked in a 0-0 tie with Romeoville (2-4-0), the host Tigers (2-3-1, 2-0-0) erupted for five goals in the next 23 minutes to turn a first half defensive struggle into a 5-1 Southwest Prairie Conference win.
“I think we just clicked,” Tigers junior forward Lindsey Dusatko said of the second half outburst. “We played more as a team and went to attack more.”
Dusatko (goal, two assists) and sophomore speedster Jessie Gruben (goal, assist) were the main battering rams that reduced the once-sturdy Romeoville defense to rubble.
“Once we got the one goal (with 31:13 left to play) we were able to get a bunch more,” Gruben said. “We work pretty well together – the Dynamic Duo.”
Gruben punctuated the last part of that quote by sharing a fist bump and a laugh with Dusatko. But the figurative punch Gruben provided on the field left Romeoville reeling.
“The second half it was definitely their speed,” Spartans coach Phil Wicyk said. “They changed that number 18 (Gruben) up to forward from outside mid, and I was telling our girls -- she’s something else. She’s quick as all heck.
“She gets the ball at her feet, she goes hard, and she’s quick. Their game-changer was definitely 18. We had no answer for her up-top. She gets the ball, and we have to draw another defender to her, and then they lay it off to the outside. And that’s what it was.”
Dusatko and Gruben were table-setters on Plainfield North’s first goal. Dusatko made a left-side run and sent a cross to Gruben in the box, whose touch pass towards the crease found freshman Natalie Drover free at the doorstep for her first career varsity goal.
“It was a good run that Natalie stuck with from a wide spot,” Tigers coach Steve Berry said. “She just kept at it (on her run) and put it in. That was nice to see.”
Things began to look even better for the Tigers with 22:15 to go, when another swarming of the net made the lead 2-0.
On a play initiated by a nice pass upfield by senior co-captain Claudia Baginski (in her season debut after an injury delay), Madi Buck’s initial shot was saved. But Dusatko was there for the point-blank rebound putaway.
“We were a little worried (with the score 0-0),” Dusatko said. “We should have put a few in the back of the net in the first half, but once we got it rolling in the second half we just kept going.”
The blitz continued with 20:15 to go, when Romeoville goalkeeper Elizabeth Vitel came off her line to block a long send away from the box -- only to have Plainfield North’s Reese Capion send a long rebound just wide of the open right post.
Just 25 seconds later, a loose ball in the box produced different results – a Gruben 8-yard drive into the lower right corner of the net for a 3-0 score.
But just when it appeared the Tigers were taking control, Romeoville had an answer.
After a Tigers foul left of the box, the ensuing free kick by Romeoville’s Valeria Valles connected with teammate Alexa Olvera in the crease for a point-blank goal and a 3-1 score with 17:15 left.
“We had a nice response there,” Wicyk said. “It was good to see my girls fight.”
But continuing to go deep into its pool of young talent, Plainfield North found another new offensive star in Marissa Richmond.
Just 47 seconds after Romeoville’s goal, Dusatko fielded a send to the box and set up sophomore Richmond left of the net for a 12-yard liner and a 4-1 margin.
Then with 9:14 to go, Dusatko nicely won a throw-in at the top of the box. She again hit Richmond with a pass to the left of the net, and Richmond’s second goal in seven minutes capped an explosive run for the Tigers.
Like Drover, Richmond hadn’t scored a varsity goal until Tuesday.
“Marissa has just come back from a really bad ankle injury,” Berry said. “This is her second game, and she scored twice
Such breakthroughs for underclassmen have been the norm for a young Tigers squad.
“We play a lot of really young kids, sophomores and freshmen,” Berry said. “There are a good eight that see a ton of time.
“We’re playing five (freshmen), and one of them Nina Bradshaw is gone right now playing for Illinois ODP (Olympic Development Program). So we don’t even have our top scorer. She’s with the regional team in Spain.”
A newcomer to the Tigers herself after two years playing club, Dusatko has been impressed by the wave of freshmen talent.
“They are doing amazing,” she said. “This is our sixth game, so we’re just trying to work hard and keep progressing through the season.
“I think once we get everyone back and healthy that we’re going to do really good and hopefully go undefeated in conference.”
With Clark sidelined by foot and hand injuries, freshman Makayla Mussatto has emerged at goalkeeper.
“This was Makayla’s second game with us,” Berry said. “The other four (games) we played with field players (in goal).
“She’s stepped up this year as a goalkeeper. She’s not even a veteran club goalie.”
Offensively, being shorthanded and inexperienced hasn’t prevented the Tigers from beginning to show their teeth.
“At the beginning of the season none of us had really played with each other that much before,” Gruben said. “So it was a little difficult trying to get it going. But I think as the season has gone on we’ve started to play really well up top together.”
Said Dusatko: “I think we only have four starters from last season. It’s a new team, so I think we’re going to continue to bond pretty good throughout the season.”
The Tigers’ upperclassmen have helped set the tone.
“We have good leadership from our seniors Makenna, Claudia and Ann Marie (Krusiewicz),” Berry said. “They’ve led us in a position to make everybody feel welcome and put players in a situation where they can succeed.
“Lindsey played club in the past, and she’s a good leader as well. And other people like Jessie and Allie (Kroll) who played last year as freshmen, through last season and our workouts last summer and winter, they’re now veterans to us.”
Tuesday’s five-goal second half explosion followed a much more tightly played first half.
The first five minutes featured a trio of Woodill corner kicks, then a Dusatko low 12-yard drive in the 11th minute denied by Vitel’s one-handed sliding block.
Good chances later in the half were produced by Baginski (25-yarder just wide), Dusatko (15-yarder grabbed by Vitel) and McKenna Kalina (high 30-yard free kick grabbed by a leaping Vitel in the 36th minute). But the score remained nil-nil at the half.
“Honestly the first 40 minutes we had a game plan,” Wicyk said. “We wanted to eliminate the number of chances they had, and it kind of looked like kick ball in the first half. We wanted to get it out of our defensive end as quick as possible and try to counter, and in the first half we had a couple of opportunities.
“I know Valeria (Valles) had a chance there (a 1-v.-1 drive and shot wide right in the 34th minute), and I think Yammy (Perez) or Kalie (Rice) too. There weren’t many but getting those two chances against a quality team is what we’re looking for.”
Then came the Tigers’ go-ahead goal nine minutes into the second half, and the tone of the game quickly changed.
“I think we just got gassed,” Wicyk said. “I told (my team), ‘You can’t play 60 minutes. You have to play 80 minutes in a varsity game.’ And they (Plainfield North) played 80 minutes, and we played 60.”
With the bulk of the season ahead and more talent on the way, Plainfield North hopes plenty more enjoyable 80-minute performances are still to come.
“We have our next game Thursday,” Dusatko said, “so hopefully we play like we did the second half throughout that whole game.”
Said Berry: “It was nice for us to come out and score some goals. And we haven’t even started some of the kids who will start for us once April comes.
“We’ve already played some really hard teams, and to just keep putting together the right mindset and keep going in the right direction is where we want to be right now.”
Starting lineups
Romeoville
GK: Elizabeth Vitel
D: Valentina Cruz
D: Jennifer Perez
D: Christine Bello
D: Adamari Canera
M: Delaney Patterson
M: Dorimar Quintanna
M: Kalie Rice
M: Yamilet Perez
F: Valeria Valles
F: Alyssa Lizotte
Plainfield North
GK: Makayla Mussatto
D: Marissa Richmond
D: Payton Strausberger
D: Makenna Woodill
D: Madi Buck
M: Reese Capion
M: McKenna Kalina
M: Ann Marie Krusiewicz
M: Lauryn Tillmon
F: Lindsey Dusatko
F: Allie Kroll
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Jessie Gruben, so. F, Plainfield North
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
PN – Natalie Drover (Jessie Gruben), 49th minute
PN – Lindsey Dusatko, 58th minute
PN – Gruben, 61st minute
Rom – Alyssa Lizotte (Kalie Rice), 63rd minute
PN – Marissa Richmond (Dusatko), 64th minute
PN – Richmond (Dusatko), 71st minute