Oswego East, Plainfield South
ready to battle
By Chris Walker
Success breeds confidence. Or is it confidence that breeds success?
One thing we know that Plainfield South and Oswego East have in common is both have gotten off to a slow start for a variety of reasons, but that doesn’t mean that the squads have lost confidence in their ability to ultimately achieve success.
But as we creep closer to the middle of September and the game results start to collect, there comes a point where a team’s identity’s formation begins to harden. We’re not there yet, but now that the bulk of the conference schedule has arrived the time is now for the teams to begin reversing their fortunes.
The teams will meet at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Oswego East as the teams resume Southwest Prairie Conference action.
The Cougars (2-3-0, 1-1-0) are coming off a conference victory Tuesday, beating Plainfield Central 4-2. Before that, they were shut out 4-0 by Joliet Central.
The Wolves (1-4-0, 0-2-0) had an opportunity to get a good practice in Wednesday in preparation for this one. They’re coming off their big annual rivalry game against Oswego on Tuesday, a 4-1 loss, in which they surrendered two early goals in the first 10 minutes and never recovered.
“We have to jump on them early, and that’s got to be a difference-maker,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “Plainfield South is a team that typically, if they play with confidence, they play better. We have to take that confidence away. We can’t have a start like we did (Tuesday against Oswego). If the first 40 minutes are like that, it’s going to be tough.”
Szymanski is wary of the kids complicating matters by thinking too much about who is their foe. Obviously, playing Oswego is a far different challenge than a team from out of district will provide. If anything, at least on paper, these two teams appear to match up fairly well.
“I know they’re struggling too,” Szymanski said. “And there’s nobody in this conference where we can just show up and win. We’re going to have to come out and play hard and play a full 80 minutes.”
Despite surrendering two goals early and another two late against Oswego, Szymanski praised his team’s defensive effort, namely senior Zach Seidel as well as the play of sophomore defender Cael Cummins who provided some energy off the bench.
“Honestly, Zach is probably our most consistent defender, and Cael came in and played hard and was all over the field too,” Szymanski said. “Those guys give us the hope that we can find some consistency with our defense and then see what happens.”
While they’re not looking too far ahead, Szymanski and Seidel both mentioned Batavia and what the Bulldogs were able to ultimately do last season, which included beating the Wolves 1-0 to win a regional title.
That loss signaled the end for some fixtures on the roster, including Nathan Huerter and Ford Frazer, while that first regional title in program history remained elusive. On the flip side, the Bulldogs became a feel-good story, a team that struggled all season then ran with the underdog role and used it to win a regional title.
“Batavia only had three wins going in and won a regional so it doesn’t matter how many wins you have in a regular season, the goal is to win a regional championship,” Szymanski said. “And that hasn’t happened here in school history.”
For now though, the Wolves would like to see some positive progress and while they saw it in spurts Tuesday, they need the chunks to be larger rather than piecemeal.
“We’ve got time to work out the kinks,” Seidel said. “We have to come out and have a strong practice (on Wednesday) and just be ready to play on Thursday.
Hopefully the weather will be more accommodating than last year’s game between the two. That contest was suspended at 1-1 on Sept. 25 at Plainfield South and had to be completed on Oct. 11 with the Wolves prevailing 4-3.
Some key contributors from that game return, including Plainfield South midfielder Ernesto Cortina who had two goals, and Andre Casas and Dimitri Huitron who each scored for the Wolves.
ready to battle
By Chris Walker
Success breeds confidence. Or is it confidence that breeds success?
One thing we know that Plainfield South and Oswego East have in common is both have gotten off to a slow start for a variety of reasons, but that doesn’t mean that the squads have lost confidence in their ability to ultimately achieve success.
But as we creep closer to the middle of September and the game results start to collect, there comes a point where a team’s identity’s formation begins to harden. We’re not there yet, but now that the bulk of the conference schedule has arrived the time is now for the teams to begin reversing their fortunes.
The teams will meet at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Oswego East as the teams resume Southwest Prairie Conference action.
The Cougars (2-3-0, 1-1-0) are coming off a conference victory Tuesday, beating Plainfield Central 4-2. Before that, they were shut out 4-0 by Joliet Central.
The Wolves (1-4-0, 0-2-0) had an opportunity to get a good practice in Wednesday in preparation for this one. They’re coming off their big annual rivalry game against Oswego on Tuesday, a 4-1 loss, in which they surrendered two early goals in the first 10 minutes and never recovered.
“We have to jump on them early, and that’s got to be a difference-maker,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “Plainfield South is a team that typically, if they play with confidence, they play better. We have to take that confidence away. We can’t have a start like we did (Tuesday against Oswego). If the first 40 minutes are like that, it’s going to be tough.”
Szymanski is wary of the kids complicating matters by thinking too much about who is their foe. Obviously, playing Oswego is a far different challenge than a team from out of district will provide. If anything, at least on paper, these two teams appear to match up fairly well.
“I know they’re struggling too,” Szymanski said. “And there’s nobody in this conference where we can just show up and win. We’re going to have to come out and play hard and play a full 80 minutes.”
Despite surrendering two goals early and another two late against Oswego, Szymanski praised his team’s defensive effort, namely senior Zach Seidel as well as the play of sophomore defender Cael Cummins who provided some energy off the bench.
“Honestly, Zach is probably our most consistent defender, and Cael came in and played hard and was all over the field too,” Szymanski said. “Those guys give us the hope that we can find some consistency with our defense and then see what happens.”
While they’re not looking too far ahead, Szymanski and Seidel both mentioned Batavia and what the Bulldogs were able to ultimately do last season, which included beating the Wolves 1-0 to win a regional title.
That loss signaled the end for some fixtures on the roster, including Nathan Huerter and Ford Frazer, while that first regional title in program history remained elusive. On the flip side, the Bulldogs became a feel-good story, a team that struggled all season then ran with the underdog role and used it to win a regional title.
“Batavia only had three wins going in and won a regional so it doesn’t matter how many wins you have in a regular season, the goal is to win a regional championship,” Szymanski said. “And that hasn’t happened here in school history.”
For now though, the Wolves would like to see some positive progress and while they saw it in spurts Tuesday, they need the chunks to be larger rather than piecemeal.
“We’ve got time to work out the kinks,” Seidel said. “We have to come out and have a strong practice (on Wednesday) and just be ready to play on Thursday.
Hopefully the weather will be more accommodating than last year’s game between the two. That contest was suspended at 1-1 on Sept. 25 at Plainfield South and had to be completed on Oct. 11 with the Wolves prevailing 4-3.
Some key contributors from that game return, including Plainfield South midfielder Ernesto Cortina who had two goals, and Andre Casas and Dimitri Huitron who each scored for the Wolves.