Chicagoland Soccer

Cougars halt scoreless stretch in victory over Grenadiers

By Dan Santaromita

Conant had endured a four-match winless and goalless streak but those droughts ended on Thursday night when it met up with Elk Grove.

Nathan Cornell’s second half goal paced the Cougars to a 1-0 win over the Grenadiers in a Mid Suburban League match in Hoffman Estates.

Conant (5-6-3, 3-3-1) had lost three matches in a row by a combined 14-0 so to win, and get a shutout, was a nice turnaround.

“We kind of put it on the guys before the game to step up and get a shutout, get a goal and get a win and we did all three of those tonight,” Conant assistant coach Tim Harte said. “It’s a positive step for us going forward.”

Elk Grove (2-7-4, 1-5-2) is in a drought of its own. The Grens are winless in eight matches after an encouraging 2-2-1 start, but will feel like they could have had at least a draw.

The Grens created a number of opportunities with through balls up the middle, but Conant center backs Billy Belmonte and Dan Ruzich snuffed out the danger on most occasions.

“We haven’t done this in the last few games, they did a great job reading the game,” Harte said. “Our center backs Dan and Billy were stepping up. They saw the play happening, stepped up and made a play. For the last few games we’ve been hanging back and kind of being passive and waiting to see what they do.”

After a first half that had few shots on goal from either side the game started to open up in the second half.

Elk Grove enjoyed a nice stretch of possession with a pair of corners and a few shots but the Cougars countered to break the deadlock in the 57th minute.

Andres Alfaro played a well-placed ball to Cornell on the right side of the box, who beat Elk Grove goalkeeper Mike Ragano (8 saves) with a low shot just inside the far post.

Alfaro, Cornell and Gio Rocha combined well up top for the Cougars all game long.

“Andres and Gio they work really well together,” Cornell said. “I feel like I’m a part of that group and I’m glad that our centers are really open to passing the ball to us up there.”

The desperate Grens put a few shots at Conant keeper Sean Cox (6 saves) in the last 20 minutes, the best of which was when Conor Murphy broke through the Conant defense down the right but Cox held his ground for a nice save.

Elk Grove coach Joe Bush has seen signs of progress out of his team lately, but the difference was obviously in the final third. Conant took a chance while the Grens did not.

“We tied Buffalo Grove the other night, I thought we possessed very well and that’s part great,” Bush said. “We need to put the ball in the back of the net and we’re not going to get a bunch of chances, but those that we do we have to deliver.”

On the upside, Ragano gave another strong effort in goal and the starting backline of Tyler Popp, Manny Pillado, Jesse Schultz and Trevor Cwiok played well other than the goal.

Cornell appreciated how hard it was to break the deadlock and complimented the Elk Grove defense.

“They do have a really strong defense,” he said. “Their sweeper is in my opinion one of the best in the conference.”

Bush has had good performances but not consistently enough from his young players.

“We’re still tinkering with lineups,” Bush said. “Different guys are playing well one night and then not playing as well the other night. We’re just trying to find that mix. The kids are positive. We’ll get there eventually.”

Meanwhile, Conant is hoping the win can spark a late season turnaround.

“We’re really comfortable now,” Cornell said. “I think it’s our chance to turn it around. I like the way the team is looking.”

Both teams have matches against the top of the MSL West pack coming up on Tuesday. Conant goes to Fremd while the Grens host Schaumburg.