Wheaton Academy drops its first game of the season to Plainfield Central

By Darryl Mellama

That Wheaton Academy was still scoreless at halftime in its Pepsi Showdown group play opener with Plainfield Central could be put to a few factors.

First, the Warriors had struggled some offensively, with a solid shot from Tim Daniels being the best the visitors could muster.

And then there was “the save” – an athletic move by Wheaton Academy goalkeeper Philip Oster to push a Tyler Gill shot onto the bar.

The ball fell to a Wildcats player inside the six-yard box, but that rebound effort went harmlessly wide.

So the Warriors and Wildcats went to halftime to make some adjustments. Plainfield Central found the winning combinations through the second half and claimed a 2-0 victory, handing Wheaton Academy (3-1-1) its first loss of the season.

Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brook said, “At halftime, our goal was to regroup and to try to get back to what we did in the first 15 minutes, which was to possess the ball at pace in tight and in big spaces. And we weren’t able to do that.”

Plainfield Central (5-2) had something to do with that. The Wildcats pressured Wheaton Academy’s five-man midfield high up the field, forcing turnovers and then moving into offense on a shorter field.

“If we don’t possess and play our style, we’re not going to be beat people at their style,” Brooke said. “They provided a good amount of pressure. They had some big kids playing in the central part of the midfield. Hat’s off to them to providing good pressure and never stopping or quitting on plays.”

The opening goal came from Alvaro Zavala, who headed in at the far post following approach work. That goal came with 23 minutes left. The killer second goal came with 2:34 to play when a Logan Spidle corner kick was deflected into the Wheaton Academy goal by a Warriors defender.

“We always ask our forwards to pressure,” Plainfield Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. “Out of the back, it just makes it harder for them to find their guys further forward. I think, at halftime, we asked them to make sure they knew where No. 20 (Daniels) was. If somebody else beat us, OK. But we wanted to know where he was.”

Wheaton Academy’s best chance came six minutes into the second half. Devin Moore stole a sloppy Plainfield Central pass just outside the penalty area. With space, Moore moved left to right through the penalty area. But as he prepared to shoot, Jon Rosenbaum slid with Plainfield Central’s defensive play of the game. Moore was dispossessed and the ball ran out for a corner kick.

“I think he thought to use Rosenbaum’s momentum against him,” Brooke said. “He went up against a very good defender and I’m sure (Moore) wishes he could have that strike back. Devin’s a fantastic player and we love what he’s doing for us.”

With New Trier and Marist still to come in Pepsi Showdown pool play, Wheaton Academy is due another pair of strong tests this week.

“We love the Pepsi Showdown and how it’s run by Joe Trost,” Brooke said. “He’s a very classy individual and it’s a professional tournament. We have New Trier on Thursday and obviously it’s a fantastic team there.

We would have liked to have shown a little better tonight, but we’ll regroup and our guys will bounce back and we’ll be ready to host New Trier on Thursday night.”

Plainfield Central is in a tough stretch of matches. In addition to Pepsi Showdowns with Marist and New Trier, the Wildcats have a Wednesday conference with Plainfield East, the first time the schools have met.

“Although (Plainfield East) played (Tuesday), I know they’ll be gunning for us,” Fitzgerald said. “We’d better be ready for them.”

But the Wildcats were certainly happy with how their four-match week began.

“That’s a solid win against a very good team,” Fitzgerald said. “You could tell they had quality at every position all over the field.”
 

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Wheaton Academy starters

Plainfield Central starters