Near-perfect Plainfield North
rolls past Wheaton Academy
No. 3 Tigers advance to PepsiCo quarterfinals
By Steve Millar
PLAINFIELD---You can’t play much better than Plainfield North played Tuesday night.
The host and third-seeded Tigers were sharp from the start and dominant all night in rolling to a 3-0 win over Wheaton Academy in a PepsiCo Showdown second-round game.
“It’s probably the best we’ve played all year,” Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe said. “We won a lot of balls in the middle of the field and our back four played so solid back there. So we knew that when (Wheaton Academy) started to get something going, we were going to win the ball back and be able to go forward, and I think that starts to wear on the other team when everything keeps getting broken up by our midfield and defense. We’re really starting to put things together offensively as well.”
North (6-0-2) certainly made a believer out of 14th-seeded Wheaton Academy and its coach David Underwood.
“My goodness,” Underwood said. “All the credit to them. They’re just a very, very good team. There’s not a weakness on the field. They’re big, they’re fast, they’ve got great touch, they move well, they’re physical. We just wanted to compete.”
The Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals and a Thursday matchup at No. 11-seed Wheaton North.
“I’m really excited because this is one round further than we made it last year,” Plainfield North defender Emily DeVaux said. “Hopefully we can keep going.”
Tuesday, the Tigers spent the vast majority of the game on their offensive side of the field and held a 10-0 advantage in shots on goal over Wheaton Academy (4-2).
North got on the board first in the 26th minute off a beautiful combination play.
Sam Elster took a pass from Natalie Auble and found Kendyl Keay making a run down the left side of the box. Keay drew the defense and rolled a pass across the box to Jessica Christmas, who sprinted towards the far post and finished.
It was the first of two goals for Christmas, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match.
“Kendyl made a great run, and it pulled the defender off me and left me open,” Christmas said. “She played the cross to me in the back corner and I just had to put it in.”
Crowe was happy to see Christmas connect.
“We’ve been able to get those balls in front of the goal, but we just haven’t been able to get on the end of them so it was good to see Jessica get in the box,” Crowe said. “Kendyl made the run, and she just had to pass it in and it was a good finish.”
Elster made it 2-0 in the 37th minute, heading home a chip from Megan Breier.
Wheaton Academy spent much of the rest of the first half dodging other scoring chances as the Tigers were clearly on the top of their game.
“We’ve really bonded as a team,” DeVaux said. “That’s definitely helped us work together and helped us be successful in this game.”
DeVaux, Brooke Polonus, Abby Gustafson and Karsyn Stirrett formed a Tigers’ back line that was impenetrable on the occasions the Warriors were able to generate an attack.
Wheaton Academy’s Rebecca Smith and Gabi LaMantia worked a nice give-and-go in the 25th minute that resulted, momentarily, in LaMantia getting behind the defense and rushing towards the box.
Stirrett, though, recovered and forced LaMantia off the ball.
DeVaux made a similar breakup when Erin Teevans appeared on the verge of a breakaway in the second half.
“We just have a really strong back line, and I think they held their composure and stuck strong and didn’t let up any goals,” Christmas said.
Christmas put in a rebound following a scramble in the box off a corner to make it 3-0 with 25:03 to go.
Wheaton Academy junior goalkeeper Lianna Ledesma had a big night despite the score. She made seven saves, including a leaping stop that robbed Keay in the 21st minute.
“Would you believe this girl has never played goalkeeper before?” Underwood said. “She’s doing an absolutely outstanding job. We even recognized her at the end of the game because she made a few outstanding saves or this could have been really ugly. She did a great job kind keeping us at least kind of in this.”
With just one senior in his starting lineup, Underwood is hoping his young bunch will learn from Tuesday’s game.
“It’s good for our girls to see it because we tell them ‘When you’re practicing at game pace, now you know what this looks like,’” Underwood said.
“You never want to lose 3-0, but if you can take this experience and learn from it, then good. Not that we’d ever ask for this, but if we can learn from it and be better the next couple weeks because of this, because of the way we practice after this, then that’s great. We can take this and learn from it and thankfully we won’t ever see this team again this year.”
While Underwood’s squad will prepare for Thursday’s consolation contest at home against Plainfield East, the Tigers have their sights set squarely on the championship trophy.
“I feel like the last few games we’ve really been improving and if we keep improving we’re going to keep putting ourselves in good positions to win,” Crowe said. “Down to the final eight, we’re only going to be playing, obviously, good teams. Every team we play in this tournament is going to be good. I think our chances are as good as anyone’s and we feel really confident in that.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Emma Veselsky
D: Brooke Polonus
D: Emily DeVaux
D: Abby Gustafson
D: Karsyn Stirrett
MF: Reyse Stirrett
MF: Jessica Christmas
MF: Sam Elster
MF: Megan Breier
MF: Natalie Auble
F: Erin Chynoweth
Wheaton Academy
GK: Lianna Ledesma
D: Molly Thorson
D: Emmerson Fuller
D: Izzy McNally
D: Britta Cassell
MF: Julia Della Torre
MF: Gabi LaMantia
MF: Anna Joy Setran
F: Erin Teevans
F: Jamie Netzley
F: Gretchen Pearson
MVP of the Match: Jessica Christmas, MF, Plainfield North
Officials: Bruce Bode, Mike Pratt, Jose Gonzalez
rolls past Wheaton Academy
No. 3 Tigers advance to PepsiCo quarterfinals
By Steve Millar
PLAINFIELD---You can’t play much better than Plainfield North played Tuesday night.
The host and third-seeded Tigers were sharp from the start and dominant all night in rolling to a 3-0 win over Wheaton Academy in a PepsiCo Showdown second-round game.
“It’s probably the best we’ve played all year,” Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe said. “We won a lot of balls in the middle of the field and our back four played so solid back there. So we knew that when (Wheaton Academy) started to get something going, we were going to win the ball back and be able to go forward, and I think that starts to wear on the other team when everything keeps getting broken up by our midfield and defense. We’re really starting to put things together offensively as well.”
North (6-0-2) certainly made a believer out of 14th-seeded Wheaton Academy and its coach David Underwood.
“My goodness,” Underwood said. “All the credit to them. They’re just a very, very good team. There’s not a weakness on the field. They’re big, they’re fast, they’ve got great touch, they move well, they’re physical. We just wanted to compete.”
The Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals and a Thursday matchup at No. 11-seed Wheaton North.
“I’m really excited because this is one round further than we made it last year,” Plainfield North defender Emily DeVaux said. “Hopefully we can keep going.”
Tuesday, the Tigers spent the vast majority of the game on their offensive side of the field and held a 10-0 advantage in shots on goal over Wheaton Academy (4-2).
North got on the board first in the 26th minute off a beautiful combination play.
Sam Elster took a pass from Natalie Auble and found Kendyl Keay making a run down the left side of the box. Keay drew the defense and rolled a pass across the box to Jessica Christmas, who sprinted towards the far post and finished.
It was the first of two goals for Christmas, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match.
“Kendyl made a great run, and it pulled the defender off me and left me open,” Christmas said. “She played the cross to me in the back corner and I just had to put it in.”
Crowe was happy to see Christmas connect.
“We’ve been able to get those balls in front of the goal, but we just haven’t been able to get on the end of them so it was good to see Jessica get in the box,” Crowe said. “Kendyl made the run, and she just had to pass it in and it was a good finish.”
Elster made it 2-0 in the 37th minute, heading home a chip from Megan Breier.
Wheaton Academy spent much of the rest of the first half dodging other scoring chances as the Tigers were clearly on the top of their game.
“We’ve really bonded as a team,” DeVaux said. “That’s definitely helped us work together and helped us be successful in this game.”
DeVaux, Brooke Polonus, Abby Gustafson and Karsyn Stirrett formed a Tigers’ back line that was impenetrable on the occasions the Warriors were able to generate an attack.
Wheaton Academy’s Rebecca Smith and Gabi LaMantia worked a nice give-and-go in the 25th minute that resulted, momentarily, in LaMantia getting behind the defense and rushing towards the box.
Stirrett, though, recovered and forced LaMantia off the ball.
DeVaux made a similar breakup when Erin Teevans appeared on the verge of a breakaway in the second half.
“We just have a really strong back line, and I think they held their composure and stuck strong and didn’t let up any goals,” Christmas said.
Christmas put in a rebound following a scramble in the box off a corner to make it 3-0 with 25:03 to go.
Wheaton Academy junior goalkeeper Lianna Ledesma had a big night despite the score. She made seven saves, including a leaping stop that robbed Keay in the 21st minute.
“Would you believe this girl has never played goalkeeper before?” Underwood said. “She’s doing an absolutely outstanding job. We even recognized her at the end of the game because she made a few outstanding saves or this could have been really ugly. She did a great job kind keeping us at least kind of in this.”
With just one senior in his starting lineup, Underwood is hoping his young bunch will learn from Tuesday’s game.
“It’s good for our girls to see it because we tell them ‘When you’re practicing at game pace, now you know what this looks like,’” Underwood said.
“You never want to lose 3-0, but if you can take this experience and learn from it, then good. Not that we’d ever ask for this, but if we can learn from it and be better the next couple weeks because of this, because of the way we practice after this, then that’s great. We can take this and learn from it and thankfully we won’t ever see this team again this year.”
While Underwood’s squad will prepare for Thursday’s consolation contest at home against Plainfield East, the Tigers have their sights set squarely on the championship trophy.
“I feel like the last few games we’ve really been improving and if we keep improving we’re going to keep putting ourselves in good positions to win,” Crowe said. “Down to the final eight, we’re only going to be playing, obviously, good teams. Every team we play in this tournament is going to be good. I think our chances are as good as anyone’s and we feel really confident in that.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield North
GK: Emma Veselsky
D: Brooke Polonus
D: Emily DeVaux
D: Abby Gustafson
D: Karsyn Stirrett
MF: Reyse Stirrett
MF: Jessica Christmas
MF: Sam Elster
MF: Megan Breier
MF: Natalie Auble
F: Erin Chynoweth
Wheaton Academy
GK: Lianna Ledesma
D: Molly Thorson
D: Emmerson Fuller
D: Izzy McNally
D: Britta Cassell
MF: Julia Della Torre
MF: Gabi LaMantia
MF: Anna Joy Setran
F: Erin Teevans
F: Jamie Netzley
F: Gretchen Pearson
MVP of the Match: Jessica Christmas, MF, Plainfield North
Officials: Bruce Bode, Mike Pratt, Jose Gonzalez