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PLAINFIELD – Last season was a special one for Plainfield Central’s boys soccer team.
After entering the tournament as a 15th seed, the Wildcats stunned second-seeded Naperville Central and then beat Plainfield East to capture their first regional title. They also put up a good fight in the sectional semifinal before falling, 1-0, to No. 3 seed Neuqua Valley.
By getting off to a strong start and winning 14 matches during the regular season, coach Kevin Fitzgerald’s team entered this year’s playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the Class 3A Naperville North Sectional.
Even though they had plenty of experience returning from a year ago in addition to a lot of motivation to duplicate their 2016 showing, the path has been very challenging thus far.
But to the Wildcats’ credit, they’ve fended off strong challenges from a pair of teams whose seeds didn’t reflect just how strong they were.
In the semifinals of the Plainfield North Regional, they had to beat the host Tigers, who were seeded 18th, but took the Wildcats to overtime in their previous meeting. It was more of the same this time, with Central capturing a 3-2 win after going to penalties.
Despite enjoying a good season, Geneva was seeded only 11th in the rugged sectional. And in Saturday’s regional final, the Vikings also forced Central to go to penalties. This time the Wildcats captured a 2-1 victory.
“Geneva was good,” Fitzgerald said. “I know their coach and read something where he said that they wanted to prove that they were better than an 11 seed, and win or lose they did that. But that’s life in our sectional, too. I used to tell our guys that if we were the 12th seed, then we were the best 12th seed in the state. We taught ourselves and maybe some others last year that seeds don’t matter. It’s just who’s better on that day.
“I’m just thrilled for all of our guys, since they left it all on the field. I didn’t use too many guys off the bench, so these guys have to be gassed. We told them that there’s no substitute for playing hard, and man they played hard. The beautiful thing is that they did it as a group and we’ve got winners here. It’s awesome to see them rewarded for it, and especially this senior class. They’re outstanding and I’m just happy I get to spend a few more days with them.”
The Vikings converted an early penalty to take a 1-0 halftime lead. But with time winding down in regulation play, Central scored on a great combination from Simeon Adesina to Noah Selefski. In the penalties, Central got goals from Ish Contreras, Zach Bargas and Joel Sanchez, while Geneva scored once with keeper Shane Badertscher making a kick save.
With a veteran team led by senior captains Badertscher, Contreras and Sanchez, Central hopes to complete another historic season by going further, but that task will be difficult.
In the 7 p.m. Tuesday sectional semifinal the 16-4-2 Wildcats meet second-seeded Naperville Central, who will be seeking some revenge from last season. If Plainfield Central can reach Friday’s title match, it likely will see top-seed Naperville North, one of the state’s elite teams.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the postseason, these Wildcat seniors have set a very high standard and that should motivate the large group of players that figures to be back next year.
Class 2A Brooks Sectional
In Class 2A, the three area teams that won regional titles are once again in a familiar situation. Lemont, Morris and Providence Catholic advanced along with Bremen to the Brooks Sectional. Those matches will be played at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep Academy in Chicago’s Pullman District, with matches Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.
The Celtics meet the Indians at
4 p.m. Tuesday in the first semifinal and the Redskins play Bremen at
4 p.m. Wednesday. The sectional championship match is at 3 p.m. Saturday.
After a two-year absence, coach Rick Prangen’s Lemont program is back in the sectional for the ninth time in 12 years. They are seeking their sixth sectional title in that span. Coach Dan Potempa’s Celtics won their third straight regional, something that the program hadn’t done before. Providence is going after its first sectional title since 2002.
Coach David Valdivia’s Morris team is back in the sectional for the sixth time in the last seven years. Bremen also has a lot of sectional experience, with this being the Braves eighth trip in the past 10 years.