Girls soccer: Oswego downs Joliet West in critical Southwest Prairie matchup

Oswego and Joliet West entered Tuesday’s girls soccer match knowing where they stood in the Southwest Prairie East standings.

With only two games remaining in the regular season, Oswego was too far ahead of West for the Tigers to catch them for third place. Still, the result of Tuesday’s game would go a long way in determining the final positions.

For what it’s worth, Oswego certainly looked like a top four team Wednesday.

A close contest the first half was anything but in the second. There was a three-minute span in the final 20 minutes where the Panthers scored three goals to secure a 5-1 victory over the Tigers.

Oswego (11-8-5, 8-1-2) entered the day in third place just behind Minooka (7-1-1) in the Southwest Prairie standings. The win over West keeps the Panthers in a position to potentially finish the regular season in second place behind Plainfield North (10-0).

“It was very important that we managed to win,” coach Gaspar Arias said. “This one should move us to second. ... I think we are connecting pretty good after not connecting at the beginning. I think if we can play to our style and the way we want, we’ll be good.”

It was a tight battle in the first half with Oswego scoring in the eighth minute off an unfortunate bounce for Joliet West. Joliet West keeper Kaleigh Blatti went diving for the save but couldn’t get a solid grip on the ball as high winds helped the ball slowly roll in. That made it 1-0 Panthers with 32 minutes left in the opening half.

The second half remained close early, but Nathalia Wheeler’s goal in the 52nd minute gave the Panthers a 2-0 edge and shifted the momentum in Oswego’s favor.

Most of the action came in a four-minute span midway through the second half. Jordyn Washington managed to put one in the back of the net with 19:53 left in the contest. About a minute later, Washington managed to intercept the ball, get to the Tigers’ side of the field and score to make it 4-0 in the blink of an eye.

That wasn’t the end of the crazy series of events, however. Oswego managed to get the ball right back and earned a penalty kick with 17 minutes remaining. Kyla Baier was sent to take the PK and she pushed it through to extend the lead to 5-0 after it was 2-0 three minutes earlier.

The action wasn’t over. Joliet West refused to be shut out and did what it needed in order to get a goal on the board with Jovi Biancorosso taking the ball down the field and scoring with 16:23 remaining.

“I think we really worked as a team to try and connect,” Oswego sophomore Peyton Johnson said. “I think in the first half we did a really good job of playing around them, but we couldn’t find that missing piece. In the end, we found a way to finish.”

As for Joliet West (15-6-2, 5-3-2), the loss could prove costly as the Tigers entered the day fifth in the SWPC standings with West Aurora (4-4-1) and Plainfield Central (4-5-1) just behind them. The Tigers still are firmly in fifth even with the loss, but now the regular-season finale against Minooka on Thursday could be much more important than previously expected.

“Congrats to Oswego for coming out and wanting it more than we did,” Joliet West head coach Alan Stewart said. “They deserved a big win. They are physical and play hard. I just hope we are able to learn from it and grow.”