Best Start in School History for Plainfield South

The Plainfield South boys soccer team is enjoying its finest start in school history.

The Cougars ran their record to 9-0 by posting a 5-1 victory over District 202 and Southwest Prairie Conference foe Plainfield East Tuesday at East.

Plainfield South is already five wins away from tying the school record for victories in a season.

"We have some talented kids this year, so it's not all me," said first-year coach Dave Brown, who was an assistant to Mike Frietag a year ago. "The credit is all theirs. They came in with the right mentality and attitude. They have all bought in."

"We've been working hard every day in practice and it's showing on the field," Plainfield South senior captain Ivan Valencia said.

"We're playing (well) right now," said Plainfield South sophomore Rodrigo Garcia, who scored twice. "I think we are working well as a team and confident in each other."

"We've played some pretty good teams," Plainfield East coach Walter Flores said. "That goes to show you how fast you can go from the top to the bottom. We were 3-0 last week and, now, we're 3-7-2 and struggling. But our guys have the right attitude and we're going to work to get out of this. We should be OK."

It was the SPC opener for the Cougars, while the Bengals are 0-2 in the league.

Jeff Bond's goal 10 minutes into the game started the scoring. Garcia's first goal came 2½ minutes later to stake the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Both goals came on breakaway opportunities.

Plainfield East countered on a goal by Erik Ramirez to make it 2-1 with 24:43 left in the first half. However, the Bengals' momentum was snuffed away by the Cougars when Tony Rodriguez scored at the 21:17 mark.

Plainfield South led 3-1 at the intermission. Goals by Garcia and Rodriguez within a 34-second span midway through the second half turned a close game into a blowout.

"We're playing a little bit of a different system than they are used to," Brown said. "And, when you are giving up just one goal a game, it works. We've been able to counter attack and score some goals."

 "We're confident and we're working hard in practice," Valencia said. "That's the most important thing right now."

Plainfield East was dealt a pair of red cards and three yellow cards.

"This is our first year for seniors and setting up the right mentality and setting up the program for the future," Flores said. "It's about a winning tradition and the culture. They don't have the luxury of looking up to someone. They are learning on the go … on the fly."