Foss free kicks help Cougars knock off Neuqua Valley

By Paul LaTour

On Wednesday, Conant defender Kelsey Foss spent some time with teammate Kaitlin Cheiro working on free kicks after the Cougars practice.

While Conant coach Jason Franco said he wanted her to spend even more time than she did, he can’t be disappointed with the results of a little extra practice.

Foss scored two goals on free kicks to lead the Cougars past Neuqua Valley, 3-1 on Thursday at Naperville Central in the opening game of pool play for the Naperville Invitational.

“It’s (Cheiro’s) pride and joy that I scored them because she made me practice,” said Foss, who scored her first goals of the season. “I love taking free kicks. And that was a big deal to put them in.”

The victory came only three days after the Cougars (7-2) suffered an upset loss to Elk Grove. The atmosphere after Thursday’s game was understandably more upbeat after the Cougars, who finished fourth in Class 3A last season, were the ones pulling the upset.

As Franco dismissed the team from a short postgame talk, one player shouted out she wanted the coaches to take them out for ice cream, despite the chilly temperature.

“It felt like we were coming downstate again, like last year,” said Foss, who added it wasn’t her who asked for ice cream, but that she supported the idea. “We’re all happy. This was just fun. It was a lot of fun.”

Conant jumped on Neuqua (11-2-1) in the 24th minute when Foss scored the first of her two restart goals. Foss ripped a shot along the ground from just outside the penalty area that somehow eluded the wall and goalkeeper Alexa Wilde, who finished with four saves.

The lead went to 2-0 in the 46th minute when forward Courtney Raetzman dribbled through defenders in the penalty area before slipping a pass to Cheiro, who buried the shot.

“Courtney made a good layoff,” Cheiro said. “The goalie was going one way and I just had to find the open corner. She really made it pretty easy for me so I was like, ‘I have to finish.’”

Neuqua got back into it just over 10 minutes later when Noelle Leary scored on a shot from the left side. Freshman Gianna Dal Pozzo picked up the assist.

It took the Cougars less than five minutes to respond as Foss again scored on a free kick from just outside the penalty area. She sent a high shot from the top left corner of the box to the upper 90 on the far side of the net.

The Wildcats had several chances to get back into it, but couldn’t get anything past Lindsay Fillingim, who finished with five saves.

The Cougars celebration lasted at least as long as it took Franco and the assistant coaches to return to the team bus. As the men approached, loud cheering broke out inside the bus and echoed down a nearly deserted West Street outside Naperville Central.

As the bus pulled away, there was no word on whether or not the Cougars were going to get their ice cream. But they had what they had come for regardless.