On one hand, Plainfield Central’s girls soccer team has already lost as many games this season as they did all of last year. Without context, that may be concerning.

On the other hand, they’ve been missing five starters at times this season due to illness or injuries. None of those injuries are long term, and they hope to be fully healthy when the most important stretch of the season comes about.

Thursday afternoon, they didn’t need to be at full strength to get an important victory.

An intense conference rivalry game between the Wildcats and Plainfield South was separated by just one goal until the final 10 minutes. Zoey Mutnansky all but guaranteed victory with five minutes left with a second strike, and Amelia Kenyon sealed it 30 seconds later, handing Plainfield Central a 3-0 win.

The Wildcats (5-4-1) gave coach Ken Schoen a second reason to celebrate Thursday – the first being his birthday – as the team bounced back from a 4-0 loss to Oswego on Tuesday.

“Once we got the second goal, my heart rate definitely dropped,” Schoen said. “At that point the game was over. We needed that. ... Our keeper made some great saves, too.”

Junior Maggie Lambert was in net and made a particularly critical save with 10 minutes to go. She managed to jump wide right and deflect the ball with the tip of her fingers to keep Plainfield South off the board.

The three-year starter and all-conference player prevented the Cougars from tying things up before Mutnansky’s goal essentially locked it up.

“I was so happy I got that goal in,” Mutnansky said with a laugh. “We were stressing. It was great and boosted our confidence, which helped us get another goal.”

The sophomore was referring to the third goal that came 30 seconds later when the freshman Kenyon snuck one in to make it 3-0.

The first goal of the day came just six minutes in when Leilany Corona sailed one in the net off an assist from Gretchen Ukleja. For the next 69 minutes, it was a fierce, scoreless competition. Possession seemed to be roughly even, with both teams creating multiple chances.

Schoen acknowledged Thursday wasn’t the cleanest of efforts, but given the missing pieces and youth of the team, a victory was still quite nice.

“I think the biggest thing for us is health,” he said. “We were down four starters today, so that’s giving other people opportunities, and we’re finding versatility with everyone. The injury bug has bitten us pretty bad this year.

“We didn’t play our sharpest game today, and we know that. We talked to the team at halftime about how the ones that are out there still need to get it done and can get it done. We just need to come out with a little bit better mental focus to start the game.”

Mutnansky felt that wins like Thursday’s are critical for when the roster is back to full strength.

“When they do come back, we have more people ready to play and win,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll win more games and stay healthy so we can do well on the season.”

As for Plainfield South (3-3), the final score wasn’t indicative of how the team played. It was an evenly matched game that coach Thomas Blake hopes the club can build on moving forward.

“It was 70 minutes of 0-0,” Blake said. “We gave up an early goal where (Plainfield Central) created space in our backline and attacked, which is what good players do. They didn’t score again until five minutes were left.

“It’s early in the year. Every step of the way we’ve talked about adjustments, and our girls have risen to take those adjustments immediately. We can’t complain on that.”