Wildcats rally to beat Batavia in match shortened by weather

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By Darryl Mellema

When you've struggled to win matches, as Plainfield Central has this season, and then you fall behind on the road inside of 10 minutes of play – you have to find something somewhere inside yourselves as a team to lift each other and regroup.

The Wildcats managed that magnificently on Monday, recovering from an early goal scored against them to rally for a lightning-shortened 2-1 victory at Batavia.

"I would have liked to have finished the game off," Central coach Ken Schoen said. "You always feel better about getting the win if you can complete the game."

Unfortunately, the lightning-filled sky combined with heavy rains to make play impossible. Play was stopped less than three minutes into the second half.

After waiting unsuccessfully to see if the lightning would abate, the decision to end the match was made between coaches and officials. As the match had reached halftime before it was stopped, the game is official.

"You can't get anyone struck by lightning," Schoen said. "The rules are that, once there's lightning, you've got to wait a half-hour before you can play again.

"It didn't look good when we were walking back to the school here to wait and it was still lightning out."

On Saturday, Central (2-3) suffered the heartbreak of taking a 1-0 lead and then losing 2-1 to Edwardsville.

Falling behind on Monday could have adversely affected the team's play but after taking a few minutes to adjust after the goal, the Wildcats had every bit as much possession time and its share of chances to score.

"I think (Monday), the girls had the right mental focus to not get too high or to not get too low," Schoen said.

"That's one of the things we were talking about at halftime, to not think that they had an advantage because they were winning the game 2-1."

As events transpired, the teams had very little time to play in the second half, and that lead held up.

"It's tough only playing half a game," Central junior Krista Pezzopane said. "But we played strong in the first half and capitalized on a couple of chances.

"It would have been nice to have played the second half, but I'm glad we got the win out of it."

Pezzopane scored both Central goals. The first came in the 12th minute of play when Sami Jensen played a ball from the center to Pezzopane on the left side of the penalty area. Pezzopane shot back to the right and scored.

The Wildcats took the lead with 1:17 left in the opening half. Amanda Jensen played a good through ball out of midfield. Pezzopane ran onto that pass and again hit a left-to-right shot that hit the right side netting.

"We're starting to capitalize on our chances," Pezzopane said. "You can see it on the field. We're definitely starting to improve.

"It’s good to win because Batavia is one of our toughest rivals. It's always been a close game with them. This year, it was really big for us to come out, capitalize on our chances and win this one."

Batavia's goal came inside the opening 10 minutes and was scored by Jenny Steurer.

"It was just a matter of not pressuring when there was a girl in the box," Schoen said. "But I think overall defensively, we limited their scoring threats."

Overall, though, Schoen said he found much with which to be pleased in the 43-minute match.

"We're coming along," Schoen said. "I think we're working harder than we did in the beginning of the year. But we still need to not panic when we get the ball so we can work the ball up more."