Rams edged by Conant in last match at Lake Park

By Darryl Mellema

It took the better part of 80 minutes, but Glenbard East found its high playing level on Saturday in its final match of the Lake Park Lancer Classic.

While that quest didn't earn the Rams anything more than a 2-1 defeat, coach Josh Adler said the benefits would definitely come soon if his team continues to find that full-out playing style.

"We were a little short-handed and we had to wait until the second half for some of those guys to try to give us some minutes," Adler said. "I was hoping we could hold them off long enough."

Conant (3-2-1) won the match thanks to a pair of goals in the opening 15 minutes. Thomas Kozlowski fed Tristan Conrad for the opening goal in the 10th minute of play.

Four minutes later, Silas Nin passed along the 6-yard box to Kozlowski, who scored.

"We were a little slow in our transition in the middle," Adler said. "Both their goals came from them attacking up the right side of the field and getting behind us and knocking a ball along the 6 for their guys to run onto."

One positive was that, as the match progressed, the Rams (1-5) cut off that particular supply line. A shift from a 4-4-2 formation to a 3-5-2 setup helped.

"We've got a young group that has to realize that you have to come out right away from the start of the game and minimize their chances going forward," Adler said.

"Going to the 3-5-2 allowed us to try to lock them into their defensive third as much as possible. We wanted to force some mistakes, push up our lines a little more and put pressure on them."

The Rams created a number of multi-player passing moves in the match. Where those moves always broke down was on the final ball into the penalty area, the one which should have produced a shot on goal.

Either the pass was poorly-weighted and went to the defense or the passing player waited too long to deliver the ball and the Cougars were able to get in a tackle to stop the move.

"Sometimes you lack that one extra pass that you need," Adler said. "That will come as these guys figure who is most effective making those runs in that part of the field.

"Sometimes it's not even taking that extra pass but as a player you've got to be creative and direct and go at a player and see if they can defend you."

Glenbard East had one scoring chance denied seven minutes into the second half when Gabe Munoz came in free on goal and had a shot saved for a corner kick.

By and large, however, the match was played mostly in midfield, with neither team having much chance at scoring.

But that changed with four minutes left when Conant defender Dustin Garland saved a Rams effort at goal off the goal line and the ball came to Stephen Plotke, who scored.

The Rams nearly tied the match when keeper Brad Suszek came forward in the dying seconds and had a side volley saved.

"This is a great tournament," Adler said. "It gives us a gauge of where we're at. When you come in, you want to win. But I think we gained the positives in other ways. They learned they have to battle out there.

"At the same time, they learned that the little mistakes can cost you. And fortunately those little mistakes are coming fewer. I walk off the field today feeling that we're in a much better position for our conference opener next Friday."

Rams junior Ian Leifheit agreed that the experiences from the tournament were positive ones.

"We've been picking up momentum as we've been going," Leifheit said. "We're starting to work together as a team and we're getting better on the field. Once we get our momentum going and scoring early, we'll be a team to be reckoned with."

Conant coach Jason Franco, while happy with the win and the nature of the goals, was disappointed his team didn't continue that effort for 80 minutes.

"I thought we played well the first 15 minutes," Franco said. "We haven't been starting well and I kind of harped on that.

"But then I don't know if we went into a shell or if Glenbard raised their effort or if it was the wind in the second half. But it was kind of a 'blah' effort the rest of the match."