Plainfield North holds off St. Viator
A 3-goal first-half explosion from Plainfield North proved just enough to withstand a valiant comeback effort from St. Viator, which fell to the visiting Tigers 4-3 in a Pepsi Showdown tournament opener in Arlington Heights on Thursday.
The Lions (5-3-0) will await their second round opponent Saturday at Olympic Park in Schaumburg, while North (7-2-0) meets No. 1 seed Huntley.
"We knew (Plainfield North) was going to be a tough ballclub for us (today) but it was a match we really wanted to have in order to play the top-rated team in the tournament this Saturday," said Lions coach Mike Taylor. "And if we played as hard and with as much energy in the first 70 minutes as we did in the last 10 minutes, we at least would have sent this game into overtime, instead of losing like we did."
The Lions, who were missing two key figures from its lineup - backliner Meghan McGrath (hip) and MF Samantha Gavin (red card) - had all sorts of problems in the first half against a team which had plenty of pace from its midfielders and young strikers such as Callie O'Donnell and Ashley Handwork, who had a hand in 3 of the visitors' 4 goals.
"We obviously missed McGrath in the back, but that's not an excuse for a couple of slopply goals in which we gave up, including the (PK) when they went ahead 2-0," said Taylor.
"To come in here and to get a 2-goal lead against a very good team like (St. Viator) was very big for us," said Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe.
The Lions put themselves in a bad spot after O'Donnell and teammate Paige Slowik pried open the defense for the first goal. Soon after, O'Donnell was brought down inside the box at 22 minutes, and Katie Cox calmly converted the PK.
But the 2-0 lead was short-lived. Lions leading scorer Taylor Skala pulled her club within 1 at 28 minutes with her 7th goal of the season.
The Tigers, however, kept the pressure on and continued to play through its midfield. Before too long, Handwork made it 3-1 when the Lions again were unable to clean up in the back.
The hosts gained back some of the run of play after intermission as Molly McMahon and Connie Kulczycki became more active in the middle, which in turn got both Skala and Katelyn Hammarlund more touches.
Instead, though, O'Donnell split a pair of Lions markers with a burst of speed and finished a ball sent through from Katie Cox at 73 minutes.
Instead of giving in, the Lions found another gear of their own, with Skala redirecting a well-struck ball from Jackie Tumberger in the 76th minute. Skala added another to complete her hat trick at 79 minutes after a scrum in front of the net.
"We'll get back at it again when we train tomorrow, and will build from a very good final 10 minutes, and hopefully, if we can get everyone back, we take a step forward this weekend in our next tournament match," said Taylor.