Plainfield North wins lightning-shortened game over Oswego East

PLAINFIELD – At first glance the girls soccer contest between Plainfield North and Oswego East on Thursday didn’t “matter” too much.

Plainfield North had already clinched second place in the Southwest Prairie Conference while Oswego East was locked in at fifth. The standings were not impacted by Plainfield North’s 3-0 win. It was just the regular-season finale.

But take a closer look and Thursday’s game meant a whole lot more.

Plainfield North and Oswego East are set to face off in the opening round of the Plainfield North Regional on Tuesday when the playoffs start. In some ways, this was an opportunity to get a closer look at each other.

“I think it’s good that we get to see a team, refresh and then go back and we can make our adjustments,” Plainfield North coach Kathleen Monterosso said. “We’ll obviously be looking at our first half (of today’s game) and go back to make adjustments. It’s a good barometer, but you also have to play a team twice and they’re taking notes on us as well.”

That first half Monterosso mentioned saw Plainfield North (16-3, 8-1) thoroughly control possession, but the Tigers were only able to convert that into one goal. Howling wind gusts of 36 mph and hot temperatures impacted play as Kolbie Harriman’s goal off a corner kick was the lone difference between the two teams.

“Honestly we just weren’t getting to the ball very hard,” Monterosso said. “If I’m being honest with you, control just wasn’t our style. We’ve got to be more aggressive and move the ball a lot quicker than what we were doing. We obviously did that in the second half.”

They sure did. Ilyana Barriball scored from 15 yards out five minutes into the second half and then scored off a deflection a minute later. That left the score at 3-0 when the game was called due to lightning with 31 minutes to go.

“We play Oswego East the first game of playoffs, so it’s good to get a feel for them,” Barriball said. “The whether was a factor, but it was good to see how they played and how we need to adjust and practice and all that.”

Though a 7-1 mark in conference play and a second-place finish to a dominant Oswego team would be a major celebration for some, the Tigers felt more bittersweet. It’s been a strong season, but this ended their streak of conference championships after winning in 2023 and 2024.

“We wanted to three-peat, so it’s a little bit of a heartbreaker,” Monterosso said. “Oswego is having a phenomenal year so kudos to them. We’re still proud to come in second.”

As for Oswego East (6-8-6, 5-4-2), the defeat marked its third loss in a row to close out the year. Coach Juan Leal thinks there were positives to take away from the first half that should help Tuesday when they get some reinforcements.

“I felt we played a pretty good first half,” Leal said. “We just made a little mistake on the corner kick and they capitalized on it. We had our JV goalie in today, but we’ll get our regular goalie back on Tuesday. Seeing (Plainfield North) before playoffs helps us see what they like to do and what kind of patterns they have. It was good for us to see where we’re at with them.”

The playoff game between the two will at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Plainfield North. The Tigers are the sixth seed while the Wolves are the 11th seed in the Naperville North Sectional. The winner will face off against the winner between third-seeded Neuqua Valley and 14th-seeded Romeoville.

Plainfield North will approach the game hoping to keep up the energy it had at the start of the second half on Thursday.

“I think we have to take the second half we had and put that into our first half,” Harriman said. “We definitely need to come out strong and be grateful for the moment. We just have to take it on with every chance that we get.”