Chicagoland Soccer

Cougars stay perfect in MSL play vs. Prospect

By Mike Garofola

A distress signal lit up Monday night for those chasing Conant with the hope of catching the front-runners in the MSL West.

While challengers Fremd and Schaumburg continue to win, so does Jason Franco's side. Conant overpowered visiting Prospect (8-8-2, 2-6-2) 4-0 on Monday to inch closer to its first appearance in the annual MSL Soccer Cup since 2001.

A pair of goals on either side of the half was too much for the Knights (8-8-2, 2-6-2), who were hoping to take some of the momentum they had gained over the weekend at the Moline Invitational.

Prospect hoped to challenge the MSL West leaders for 80 minutes, and perhaps spring a surprise on the home side.

"They're everything that we heard they were," began Prospect head coach Tom Froats, whose club won the consolation crown over Moline United on a goal from Taylor Smith on Saturday.

"For over 30 minutes in that first half, we played with a lot of energy and defended a terrific Conant attack as best as we could, but those two late goals before the break really seemed to take a lot out of us,” Froats said. “I think their ability to continue to attack, especially with the work of Courtney Raetzman, finally began to wear us down and likely led to a bit of fatigue on our part."

The Cougars continue to use their recent experience in the Naperville Invitational as fuel for the fire.

"I think our two losses to Neuqua Valley and Naperville North helped show us that we're not invincible, and not to take anything for granted,” Conant midifielder Chrissy Rosales said. “But it also helped up to refocus and work harder as we prepare for the final couple weeks of the season."

Rosales was magnificent in the middle of the park for the Cougars, as she helped sort out and run the attack while winning countless first and second balls, and never slowing down as the engine who ran the Cougars’ offense.

"The key with Chrissy is that she is finally healthy, and with her now being fit, she has really become such an important player for us in the middle, and a strong leader as well," Conant coach Jason Franco said.

Rosales, Raetzman and Kaitlin Chiero demonstrated what a thrilling trident they can be when hitting on all cylinders. The trio were at the heart of much of what the Knights tried to defend as they dropped a few extra players with the hope of slowing a Conant side which has outscored its opponents 60-7 this season, and 11-0 in its past three matches.

"They do what every team would like to, and that's to move the ball around with quick touches, getting everyone involved, and all with precise 1-2 touches to make it difficult to defend them when they're on their game," said Froats.

"We just had a very difficult time defending them tonight, but then they also have a player like Courtney (Raetzman) who is just an unbelievable player," said Prospect keeper Megan McCabe, who protected the goal bravely, with a handful of superb saves to help give her club a chance to stay close in the first half hour of play.

"Prospect has a great keeper in Megan, and she made a couple of amazing saves to help them out," said Franco.

McCabe would stop a point-blank blast from Alyssa Rawleigh in the first 10 minutes after Raetzman shredded the Knights along the back with a lovely crossfield helper. The junior keeper then turned away Chiero, Raetzman and Paige Wentzel, after teammates Rosales, Rawleigh and Wentzel were all part of the build-up which led to the strikes on the Prospect keeper.

The visitors were unable to play through the middle much at all during the first half, as they needed to defend more than they would have liked. A Prospect backline led by Kelly Ziegenfuss and Adrianne Falagrio gave a solid effort throughout, as well as Taylor Smith, whom Froats asked to mark Raetzman for most of the match.

"We were playing with two up top but I know it didn't look that way, because we had to get more people back to help defend," said McCabe.

Disaster struck for the visitors when a scrum following a Drew Wentzel ball left sitting near the far post, which Courtney O'Keefe smashed into the far inside netting at 37 minutes.

Less than 90 seconds later, Alyssa Altosino went up and over the tip of McCabe's gloves from just outside the 18 to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead heading into the break.

Five minutes after intermission, Raetzman increased the lead when a tidy ball from Chiero put the junior into the box, and with the expertise of an international striker she held off her mark before firing left-footed past the diving McCabe and inside the far post.

Drew Wentzel would end the scoring at 70 minutes at the back post, with both Chiero and O'Keefe getting credit for the helpers.

The Cougars (13-2-0, 9-0-0) backline never skipped a beat, despite the absence of standout Kelly Lomas, off for the night after her red card offense last Saturday against Rolling Meadows.

Franco said his all-area junior Kelsey Foss was strong all throughout, as was the freshman Drew Wentzel and Kim Trinco, who held the Knights to just one attempt on frame, coming at 78 minutes when Lauren MacNab rattled the post.

"We've got a difficult opponent on Wednesday with Palatine for the clincher, but we're coming off maybe our best all-around effort against Boylan last week, and back-to-back conference wins to help keep our confidence and focus where it needs to be," said Franco.

While Conant battles Palatine on Wednesday, rival Fremd travels to Hersey, which is embroiled in a battle with Rolling Meadows for the top spot in the MSL East.

"We'd like to close it out against Palatine, and not have our final match of the year at Barrington be the deciding game for the division, but we know that Willie (Filian) will have his team fired up for us, so we'll have to be ready for that match."