Cougars unable to muster any offense against Hersey

By Mike Garofola

Conant's hopes for a divisional title in the Mid Suburban League may be over.

Needing to stay perfect the rest of the way, while front-runners Barrington and Schaumburg falter at the same time, the Cougars fell 1-0 Tuesday night to defending conference champion Hersey, on their home pitch in Hoffman Estates.

The loss drops the Cougars four full points behind Schaumburg, with just two matches remaining in the regular season.

"Just an uninspiring effort out there tonight," admitted Cougars head coach Jason Franco.

"Hersey had a lot more to play for than we did, granted, but I would have thought the girls would want to put together a solid performance in advance of our tournament match on Thursday, which we are taking pretty seriously also."

The Cougars will host state power New Trier in its quarterfinal match of the Naperville Invite, as part of a doubleheader, now scheduled to be played at Conant following the 6:00 match between Hinsdale Central and St. Charles East.

"Yeah, I was kind of worried about (tonight) after seeing how poor our warm-up was before the game," said Courtney Raetzman.

"We were so pumped up before our game with Neuqua Valley (3-1 victory) last week, everyone was focused during warm-up, and you could tell everyone came ready to play."

"But things began to fall off (some) in our next tournament game (Andrew) and today it just wasn't there at the start."

It was obvious that it WAS there for Hersey (9-3-4), who in the early stages of this match got away from its trademark defensive play to blaze through and past the home-side.

Conant had no answer for Huskies striker Maeva Waterman, who appeared to be going forward at the speed of sound, while her mates in the middle were winning every 50-50 ball available in the center of the park.

"This was a huge game for us, no doubt, and the girls really responded tonight, knowing that a loss would really make it difficult for us in our division, and with us playing Elk Grove (MSL East leader) this Thursday," said Hersey head coach Brad Abel.

The Cougars (8-3-1) could not turn the tide on a rampant Hersey club, which kept up relentless pressure, while making sure the home-side was unable to play through the middle, and find Raetzman, Kaitllin Chiero and others who are dangerous when on the ball.

"We just didn't play to feet (at) all in that first half, and it seemed like we never won any 50-50 balls either," said Raetzman.

Megan Boyle was the architect of her own goal, when the sophomore struck a well-placed left-footed corner through the 6-yard box and into the far side netting at six minutes for the lone goal of the night.

"Our achilles heel all season long has been our inability to be strong and challenge balls in and around the 18, and tonight you saw how we've struggled in that area, and if we don't get it fixed, it's going to cost us in the playoffs as well," warned Franco.

The best the Cougars attack would look in the first half was a late counter, with Paige Wentzel, Sam Armando and Chiero all getting touches going forward.

However, Raetzman's attempt at all-area keeper Julia Fredian had little enough pace to trouble the senior.

The Cougars did fight back after intermission and forced the Huskies to tighten up in its own end, particularly just after the break.

That was also the case in the final quarter hour, when the hosts were searching for the equalizer to send things into overtime.

Franco would eventually push Raetzman forward to add numbers, while Wentzel, Armando and freshmen Alyssa Altosino all became more active, as well.

Sammy van de Linde would find the speedy Hailey Andress, out of the back on the right side at 63 minutes, and if not for a strong tackle by Olivia Stasiuk, the junior could have found her way in on Fredian.

Altosino would have a go three minutes later, but her shot would go wide, and moments later, a Raetzman serve to Chiero was flicked on by the junior, to an onrushing Armando at the back post, but collected easily by the ever-alert Fredian.

Fredian, who entered the match with 10 shutouts on the season, made a goal-saving stop in the 76th minute on Chiero.

"We didn't really create much of anything, except for Chiero at the end, and while we didn't show too much tonight, you have to credit Hersey for the job they did on us," said Franco.

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