Vikings get goal in overtime to defeat Cougars

 

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By Dan Santaromita

Put Eric Leonard anywhere on the field and good things can happen.

Normally a rock solid defender for Fremd, Leonard has played midfield recently and provided a goal and the assist on Yusuke Kanada’s overtime golden goal against Conant.

As a result, Fremd picked up a 3-2 win in a Mid Suburban League West match Tuesday night in Palatine.

A year ago, Conant topped the Vikings 2-1 in overtime but the favor was returned this season.

Fremd coach Steve Keller moved around some of his key players to see how his team can play in certain situations with the playoffs looming around the corner.

While forward Brian Hindle and Kanada moved back to play defense for part of the game, Leonard moved up. The sophomore showed his multi-dimensional skill set.

“He’s been huge,” Keller said. “He’s a ball of energy. He’s going to be everywhere. He’s going to fight for everything.

“You need someone like that. You need a guy who’s going to go scrap and win balls and do the dirty work, which he does, plus he also scored tonight. He gets himself around the play. He’s got decent skills where he can distribute and create opportunities in the attack.”

Leonard’s heroics came later in the match, however, after the Cougars (5-7-3, 3-4-1) took an early lead in the seventh minute.

Fremd (9-4-1, 6-3) was unable to clear a Conant throw into the box and Gio Rocha put the ball home following a fight for possession.

The Vikings responded well, finally getting on the attack after a sluggish opening 10 minutes.

Leonard nearly leveled the match just past the midway point of the half but his header went over the crossbar. A minute later, he got a similar opportunity and made a clinical finish.

Jared Niec sent in a cross to Leonard at the far post and Leonard headed the ball back across the goal for the equalizer.

Four minutes later, the Vikings took the lead on a goal similar to Conant’s first. A free kick into the area by Hindle caused a scrum in the box where Kanada was at the right spot to score.

“We talked about what it takes to play hard for 80 minutes and I thought we had some lapses today when we gave them the two goals in the first half,” Conant coach Jason Franco said.

“They were outplaying us and I think we matched them for the last 50 minutes maybe. If we can do that more regularly then we can beat teams like this.”

Conant goalkeeper Sean Cox (8 saves) made a number of quality saves throughout the first half once the Fremd onslaught began.

Still within striking distance thanks to Cox, the Cougars drew even in the 47th minute.

A Rocha free kick caused problems in Fremd’s penalty box. The Vikings were first to the ball in the air but didn’t clear the danger.

Fremd keeper Colton Caesius (3 saves) was among a mass of bodies colliding going after the ball, which bounced high off the turf and into the net for an own goal.

The final half hour of regulation involved a lot of play in the middle. Neither side had more than a rare attack on goal.

“It was just good hard fought MSL soccer where you've got to earn every inch on the field,” Franco said.

“You could see the intensity picking up on both sides, which I was glad that we matched,” Keller said.

Kanada’s game-winner came with 1:52 left in the first overtime. He made a well-timed run to stay onside and received a nice ball from Leonard. Cox came off his line to challenge the shot but could not prevent the goal.

“It was his fantastic run,” Leonard said of Kanada. “He just bent it just how a forward should do it and I happened to be there at the right time for a nice little flick on. He did the rest.”

The goal was as a shock to Conant, which had been solid at the back since allowing the pair of Viking goals in succession.

“They hadn’t threatened us, nothing serious in a while, so that kind of comes out of nowhere,” Franco said.

Kanada managed two goals despite playing a portion of the second half at left back. The senior explained the temporarily reworked Viking defense.

“We were up 2-1 and Keller wanted to try something new with the defense. He thought Hindle and Leonard in the middle controlling the backline and then having (Matt) Briars and me, quick guys, on the flanks will help out the defense much more.”

Franco tried to be positive about the loss but feels like his team deserved better.

“I thought it was a pretty even game,” he said. “It probably deserved to be tied it anything. I thought it was headed there.

“As far as it being a positive loss, I guess this is as close as you can get to that. We played hard against a good team and we almost got a result.”

The Cougars have to recover quickly from the overtime match. They take on undefeated Prospect Wednesday. Fremd hosts New Trier on Saturday.