Cougars shut out of net at Elk Grove

By Gary Larsen

Intensity hits peaks and valleys in every game, but Conant coach Jason Franco would have liked to see his boys come out with more of it on Tuesday against Elk Grove.

“I thought we could have been more up for the game,” Franco said. “We still out-chanced them something like 12 to 5 in the first half, and if we put one of those in the goal maybe it makes a difference … but we can’t take a ten-minute break in the first half.

We came out slow. We’re not consistent enough for my taste.”

Junior midfielder Zach Conrad agreed, after the Cougars lost 2-0 in the MSL showdown in Elk Grove.

“We came out flat in our first four or five games,” Conrad said. “We were the team that scored first in only two of our games, so we’ve been digging ourselves into a hole. We’re not playing bad defensively but we’re making a simple mistake that leads to a goal.”

After having the better chances through most of the first half, Conant (6-3-1, 3-1 in MSL play) saw Elk Grove (5-2, 2-1) go up 1-0 on a Justin Gavros goal set up by a corner kick feed from Nick Jordan. Cougars’ keeper Hugo Gonzalez made a pair of nice stops near the goalmouth just before the break.

Conant’s Tom Kozlowski forced Grenadiers’ keeper Frankie Ortiz into a diving save before halftime, and the Cougars’ Bobby Iatomasi did the same in the second half.

Defensively, Conant knew what Elk Grove brought to the table and for the most part the Cougars were more than up to the challenge.

“I know they can play. I heard they can knock it,” Franco said. “They have a lot of skill and they score a lot of goals, so I knew it was going to be tough. I thought we contained them for the most part. For a team that’s creative and has some flair to them, they weren’t able to do a whole lot in the second half. They just out-paced us at times.”

Conant brought the attacking heat in the second half, but couldn’t find that final pass to a dangerous shot on frame.

The Cougars’ Bobby Iatomasi dribbled up the left side deep into Gren’s territory a handful of times in the second half, but Elk Grove’s defense won the day.

Conant earned a free kick and a corner kick that both went for naught, just before disaster struck, when Elk Grove sent a long ball over the top in the 73rd minute.

The Cougars erred on a clearing chance in back, putting Elk Grove’s Ernesto Rodriguez in alone on Gonzalez. Rodriguez’s goal effectively deflated the Cougars and the 2-0 lead held to the final buzzer.

“We were dangerous going forward but it was just that last pass,” Franco said. “Or the pass got there, but not the finish. We just need a little more quality, and that’s how you win games.”

“Overall I thought we played okay. Hugo made a couple big saves for us and kept us in the game.”

Elk Grove defended well throughout the contest, and has only given up 3 goals in 7 games played this season.

“They were pretty solid defensively, and we didn’t play badly up top,” Conrad said. “They were sticking their tackles a lot more than we did. The second half we were more fired up and we were pressuring them, but we couldn’t get a goal. We were unfortunate.”

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