Cougars strike twice to top Gators

Click here for photos from Monday's game

By Gary Larsen

Not bad for a season opener.

Host Conant and visiting Crystal Lake South went back-and-forth at each other all night on Monday, with the Cougars riding two second-half goals to victory in Elk Grove.

“We have a lot of high expectations,” Conant junior Kelly Lomas said. “We have ten players from last year so we have a lot of potential. We have a lot of potential on the field and coming off the bench this year.”

Through 40 minutes on Monday, the Cougars had to contend with a Gators team that brought energy and physicality to the pitch. Crystal Lake South started a combination of 9 juniors and seniors, while Conant coach Jason Franco’s starting lineup included five sophomores.

“They played hard and I expected them to. They’ve got a lot of older players that have been there,” Franco said of South. “We’re young and we’re still trying to figure out the physical side of it.”

“When we can get the ball down a little bit we’re as technical as anybody, but today they took us out of our game. We were rushed and we looked frantic at times.”

After holding off the Gators in the first half, the Cougars knew the tables needed turning at halftime.

“At halftime (the coaches) said we had to pick it up defensively and play to feet more. We were playing too many long balls in the first half,” Lomas said. “Once we started playing to feet more, we got more scoring opportunities.”

The Cougars have a team capable of striking quickly this year, and they did just that after the break.

The Gators knew they had to slow down Conant’s Courtney Raetzman – and they largely managed that task -- but the danger of Raetzman’s speed and skill is that if you lose her even once, you’re likely going to pay for it.

Raetzman took a pass from teammate Kaitlin Chiero, got behind South’s defense and scored, just 30 seconds into the second half.

“If we can get the ball to Courtney up there, she’ll make something happen,” Franco said. “And she’ll play a full eighty without skipping a beat. She’s a difference-maker. And I thought Chiero was dangerous. She just couldn’t finish today.”

“We can go from no chance to a breakaway in no time at all. We have about three or four players up there that can really feel the game.”
With the two teams taking turns pushing into each others’ defensive thirds, Lomas and the girls in back continued to keep the Gators from finding the final link to a dangerous scoring chance.

“(Lomas) played well, and she’s been there,” Franco said. “She plays outside back, center back, and we’ll move her around a little bit, and I thought our goalie (Lindsey Fillingim) played well today. She cleaned a lot of stuff up for us in the back.”

South stayed within one goal of tying the game until the 68th minute, when Raetzman slid a pass to the left to Chrissy Rosales. Rosales went in alone on net and buried her first goal of the season.

“Chrissy Rosales did a nice job tonight, and we expect a lot this year from Brenna Fitzpatrick and Kelsey Foss,” Franco said. “(Foss) is a big player in back and she wins pretty much everything for us back there.”

Lomas liked what she saw defensively from her side on Monday.
 
“(South) had Ashley Ross in back for the beginning of the game, and we were nervous about her because she’s a main player for them,” Lomas said. “When they moved her to forward, we had to make sure we dropped a lot more.”

“We were dropping more and reading balls better in the second half. In the first half, we weren’t doing that as well. Once we picked that up it was easier to get balls to our forwards’ feet.”

Franco was also happy with the way his young team acclimated after halftime to the Gators’ physical play, and satisfied with what he got from his side on the season’s opening night.

“It wasn’t bad today,” he said. “I expected us to knock it around a little better and not play as much kick-ball, but it’s the first home game, the nerves are out, and (South) played hard.”

The Cougars play at Hoffman Estate Thursday and host Dundee-Crown on Saturday before taking an 11-day hiatus for spring break.