A new beginning
for Plainfield South, DeWolf
Cougars open season against West Aurora
By Chris Walker
It doesn’t matter how many you’ve experienced, there’s always something special about opening day.
Plainfield South will kick off its 2015 season Friday when it invites West Aurora into Plainfield. While the game will be the first of the season for the Cougars it’ll also be the first for their coach, Lauren DeWolf, who transitions from an assistant coaching position to head coach this spring.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “We’ve been outside this whole week with the snow melted. We’re working on fine tuning our passing to get ready for a busy start to the season.”
DeWolf played at Hinsdale South and at Western Illinois before graduating and moving on to Plainfield South.
The Cougars will play five matches in 11 days to close out March so in less than two weeks they’ll already have a very good idea of where they stand. Their first four matches are all on their home turf, including Naperville North on Monday, a program that has won two state titles in the past four seasons.
“The girls have the mentality where they’re expecting to win every game, and that’s the mentality we want them to have going into conference with a winning record,” DeWolf said. “I think it’s important that the girls have some confidence so that they believe they can play with anyone and beat anyone.”
The Cougars enjoy the nice dynamic of having representation from all classes on their roster. Senior Michele Govern and junior Angela Corcoran will look to be leaders in the midfield while senior Kaylee DeVivo will contribute as a midfielder or defender along with sophomore defender Madison Ourada.
They’ll see what they can do against a West Aurora team that dropped its opener, 2-0, to Wheaton Academy on Wednesday.
“The girls have chattered about this and how you need to play every game like it’s your state championship,” DeWolf said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the best team in the state or the worst team in the state.”
West Aurora is coming off arguably its strongest season when it posted a 13-7-2 record. Sophomore Katharine Stephens showed she was a legitimate scorer a season ago.
The Blackhawks are very young: Hannah Pealstrom, Cristina Sosa, Karina Rios, Carli Hix and Yulissa Espino as the team’s only seniors.
Their roster features 10 underclassmen, including three freshmen.
Getting their first victory of the season would be a nice confidence boost for the Blackhawks before they welcome West Chicago and Oswego for home matches next week before heading to Geneva next Saturday.
for Plainfield South, DeWolf
Cougars open season against West Aurora
By Chris Walker
It doesn’t matter how many you’ve experienced, there’s always something special about opening day.
Plainfield South will kick off its 2015 season Friday when it invites West Aurora into Plainfield. While the game will be the first of the season for the Cougars it’ll also be the first for their coach, Lauren DeWolf, who transitions from an assistant coaching position to head coach this spring.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “We’ve been outside this whole week with the snow melted. We’re working on fine tuning our passing to get ready for a busy start to the season.”
DeWolf played at Hinsdale South and at Western Illinois before graduating and moving on to Plainfield South.
The Cougars will play five matches in 11 days to close out March so in less than two weeks they’ll already have a very good idea of where they stand. Their first four matches are all on their home turf, including Naperville North on Monday, a program that has won two state titles in the past four seasons.
“The girls have the mentality where they’re expecting to win every game, and that’s the mentality we want them to have going into conference with a winning record,” DeWolf said. “I think it’s important that the girls have some confidence so that they believe they can play with anyone and beat anyone.”
The Cougars enjoy the nice dynamic of having representation from all classes on their roster. Senior Michele Govern and junior Angela Corcoran will look to be leaders in the midfield while senior Kaylee DeVivo will contribute as a midfielder or defender along with sophomore defender Madison Ourada.
They’ll see what they can do against a West Aurora team that dropped its opener, 2-0, to Wheaton Academy on Wednesday.
“The girls have chattered about this and how you need to play every game like it’s your state championship,” DeWolf said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the best team in the state or the worst team in the state.”
West Aurora is coming off arguably its strongest season when it posted a 13-7-2 record. Sophomore Katharine Stephens showed she was a legitimate scorer a season ago.
The Blackhawks are very young: Hannah Pealstrom, Cristina Sosa, Karina Rios, Carli Hix and Yulissa Espino as the team’s only seniors.
Their roster features 10 underclassmen, including three freshmen.
Getting their first victory of the season would be a nice confidence boost for the Blackhawks before they welcome West Chicago and Oswego for home matches next week before heading to Geneva next Saturday.