Missing final link haunts Cougars
Conant kept out of net at Barrington

By Gary Larsen

That elusive final pass to a shot on net eluded Conant on Friday, throughout the Cougars’ 2-0 loss in an MSL battle at Barrington on Friday.

A physical Broncos’ team slowed the Cougars’ attack for 80 minutes, and simply didn’t allow them to find dangerous real estate in their defensive end.

Conant (7-4-1, 4-2-0) now sits in a three-way tie atop the West Division of the MSL. Barrington, Conant, and Fremd each have 12 points in the table, while Palatine sits just off the lead with 10 points.

The Cougars know that to play for the MSL Cup, something has to change.

“We have to do better in the final third, with the final ball,” Conant senior Michael Zentner said. “We have to finish better, and that’s all about that final ball.”

Barrington (5-6-2, 4-2) grabbed a 1-0 lead on a Charlie Giovenco head shot, on a free kick sent in from 50 yards out by Dan Barber. Shivam Patel and Michael Natalino sent shots high and wide of net through 40 minutes, but Conant failed to test Barrington keeper Will Cotopolis.

Much of Conant’s attacking struggle was built on Barrington’s physicality.

“We weren’t ready for the physical side of it,” Cougars coach Jason Franco said. “I’ve read about Barrington and they’re physical. It’s effective, it’s frustrating to play against, and you have to fight through it. You have to be ready for it, and we weren’t.”

Conant likes to play the ball around the pitch, but Barrington stopped the Cougars from finding any offensive flow.

“We knew it would be physical and I don’t know if we were prepared for just how physical it was,” Zentner said. “But we should know that people are going to try to come out and push us around. We have to handle it better.”

The Cougars began earning restarts deep in the final third as the second half progressed. A Patel free kick was sent out by Barrington in the 63rd minute, but the Cougars sent it right back in only to see Cotopolis make a point-blank save at the post on a shot by Joey Bosco.

Free kick and corner kick opportunities presented themselves for Conant, but went for naught.

“It’s something we have to keep practicing,” Zentner said. “But I think we’ll eventually get it down, and get one. We just have to work at it.”

Barrington took a 2-0 lead in the 72nd minute, when Lasse Haataja fired in close on Conant keeper Bobby Potratz, and that’s the way things ended.

“You can’t give up a goal like that first one. It’s a free header,” Franco said. “On the second goal it was three missed tackles, and you can’t do that either. You can’t make mistakes at this level because teams will punish you for it.”

Potratz was solid in net throughout the contest. Fellow senior keeper Hugo Gonzalez was absent due to injury but Potratz didn’t miss a beat. “He played every game in net for us last year and he made some big saves for us tonight,” Franco said.