Three goals not quite enough for Cougars

 

By Dan Santaromita

It’s not often there are seven goals in a match and both coaches agree there could have, and probably should have, been more.

Palatine beat visiting Conant 4-3 in a wild Mid Suburban League affair that featured five first half goals and a slew of quality chances.

“They had three, four clear chances that they didn’t score on so we were fortunate at halftime that we were up 3-2,” Pirates coach Willie Filian said. “It could easily have been 6-3 the other way so we dodged some bullets.”

For Conant (9-7-1, 6-5), finishing has been a problem throughout the year so to lose with a good offensive output is hard to take.

“We don’t score three hardly ever so the fact that we scored three and we lost, it’s just a sad defensive effort,” Conant coach Jason Franco said. “We gotta look ourselves in the mirror a little bit and figure out how to fix these things so we can win a game like this.”

Stephan Thabuteau had two first half goals to give Palatine (10-8-1, 6-4-1) the halftime lead. Ivan Garcia assisted on the first and Thabuteau stole the ball at the back to create the second.

Jorge Caballero flicked the ball to Jack Reynolds for the Pirates’ third goal of the half.

“Palatine was very good at targeting players and flicking the ball on,” Franco said. “We got beat a couple times and we weren’t reading it well. It’s fixable, but it’s just a matter of us listening and fixing it.”

On the other side, Thomas Kozlowski set up Nathan Cornell for Conant’s first and later scored a goal with Shivam Patel getting the assist.

Kozlowski caused problems for Palatine all game. Conant had more chances, several great ones, to add to the scoring binge but the quality in the final third wasn’t where Franco would like it to be.

Kozlowski added his second of the day in the second half while Thabuteau switched roles from finisher to playmaker when he set up a goal for Kosta Risteski.

In the final minute Conant had a breakaway to even things up, but Palatine’s freshman goalkeeper, Kyle Leber, came off his line to snatch the ball before a potentially equalizing shot came his way.

“That’s just a small micro chasm of what our season’s been so far,” Franco said. “We just lack that quality at the end and it’s cost us several games, this one especially. They had a couple too, but I mean we had the majority of the point blank chances that we didn’t put in. You can’t win like that.”

“I feel like we played good, we had a lot of offensive chances but we had a lot of mistakes in the back that cost us,” Conant midfielder Joe Bosco said.

This was Palatine’s third game in as many days. The Pirates also scored four against Schaumburg in a 4-2 win Wednesday.

Filian was happy his team was able to fight through this stretch with a win over a solid opponent.

“We’ve got some injuries to some key players so the kids that did play, I’m proud of them,” he said. “We found a way to score four goals against a pretty good team and then hang on. We definitely weren’t real sharp today. We did a lot of chasing. Conant’s a very good team. We’re fortunate, there’s no doubt about that. They had the better of the game.”

The offense may be humming at a good clip right now, but the defense is giving up chances and goals at a higher rate than Filian would like.

Leber and fellow freshman Kyle Clancy have stepped up in a pinch for the squad, but the defense will have to improve if the Pirates are to make a run in the playoffs.

“With a freshman in goal and a freshman sweeping they’ve really had to come through for us and they have,” Filian said. “We just give up too many goals, too many chances still. That’s not always the defenders and the goalkeepers. The midfield will give away the ball too much. We don’t hold it up top which means the ball is in our end all the time so that’s our main point of emphasis the next couple weeks. We've got to clean things up so we give up less chances.”

Filian knows anyone can make a run in the playoffs, but taking your chances is crucial to postseason success.

“Our efficiency was good,” he said. “We had maybe six chances to score and scored four goals. If in a playoff game we get that many chances against a good team and finish that many, we’ve got a good chance.”

Palatine, who hosts Lake Zurich Saturday, jumped ahead of Conant for third in the MSL West with the win.