Chicagoland Soccer

Cougars fight tooth-and-nail against Illinois' top-ranked team

By Darryl Mellema

Plainfield South fell 8-0 to Naperville North in 2009, and on Monday the Cougars faced a Huskies team that has garnered a top ranking in the state, and No. 4 national ranking.

Coach Kevin Allen's squad lost 4-0 -- halving last year's deficit -- and walked away with a quality learning experience under their belts.

"We have a lot of positives coming out of this game," Allen said. "They rolled us pretty badly last year and we gave them a battle tonight. We were as prepared as we were going to be and I'm proud of our intensity."

Despite being shut out, the Cougars had a few good scoring chances . Kelley Fracasso hit a solid free kick that went just over the bar midway through the first half. The senior hit another free kick in the second half that got over the wall but was saved.

"Offensively, we didn't get many chances," Allen said. "We've got to take better care of the ball when we get it."

And as for Naperville North's goals, the first came when the Cougars were attempting to clear and the ball bounced off Swift while the other came from poor marking following a corner kick.

"It was kind of us shooting ourselves in the foot, but we battled to the end," Allen said. "It's kind of tough to let those corner kicks sit in the box. It becomes a matter of 'who wanted it more?' And they wanted it more."

That said, no one on Plainfield South's portion of the sideline was begrudging Naperville North their win.

"They were the better team, no doubt about it," Allen said. "We'll take things away from this game because they're one of the better teams in the state. We've got the game on film. We'll see what we can improve on and we'll see what we can learn from them."

The Huskies led 2-0 at halftime and their ball movement, without being spectacular, was good and the majority of the play was in the visiting Cougars end.

But Naperville North coach Brent Terada still shuffled things. He changed his team from a 4-2-3-1 formation into a 4-4-2 setup. Some personnel changes were made. And with that new approach, the Huskies found an offensive patter they had not achieved in 40 minutes - going from "good" to "very good" almost immediately.

Naperville North (3-0) scored a further two goals and finished with a 4-0 victory over determined Plainfield South (1-1).
"In the first half, we struggled to play together and to play fast," Naperville North junior Adrienne Schertz said. "But in the second half, we definitely picked up speed and our work rate was high. That helped us get forward more."

In theory, the first half formation, known as the "Christmas Tree" is designed to do all the things the Huskies did in the second half, with three midfielders able to get outside and support the lone striker. As they move forward, one of those midfielders usually ends up playing as a nominal "second forward."

But in the second half, with four midfielders, Naperville North started to knock the ball from the center to onrushing wide players, who then moved the ball back inside for the forwards to operate.

"Our outside mids are still figuring it out," Terada said. "We did well defending. But when we get on the offensive, we need to get it wide. That's one of our first priorities, to stretch the field. I think we'll be dangerous when that starts happening on a consistent basis."

Naperville North freshman Zoe Swift scored twice, netting her team's first and fourth goals. The first came in the seventh minute of play when a Plainfield South defender hit a clearance that came off Swift and ricocheted back into the net.

"You put yourself in good positions and sometimes nice things happen," Terada said. "I'm not going to pretend that was a planned situation. But if you sit around the goal, sometimes you get dirty goals like that."

Swift's second goal came with 28 minutes to play when she dribbled inside the penalty area and scored.

"Playing well, we look for that first," Swift said. "We have to keep our work ethic high and work together so we can pull out wins."
Christa Szalach got Naperville North second goal following a Rycke Guiney corner kick with 22 minutes left in the first half.

Guiney hit a shot from just under 30 yards from goal that rifled into the net to put the Huskies 3-0 ahead. That goal nine minutes into the second half came as Naperville North began to find its passing rhythm

"That was a big-time hit," Terada said. "(Guiney) can absolutely pound it. They found her in-stride and she was able to step into it and pound it."

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