Chicagoland Soccer

Cougars shut out Rolling Meadows in MSL crossover

By Dan Santaromita

Conant went into the regular season finale against Rolling Meadows looking to get some positive vibes heading into regionals and get everyone some match time.

Mission accomplished.

The Cougars ended a four-match losing streak in a 4-0 win over visiting Meadows Tuesday in Hoffman Estates in a Mid Suburban League crossover. Conant had four different goal scorers and a number of other contributors.

Following a start in which the Mustangs were able to get a few looks at goal, Conant (6-10-3) asserted itself and controlled the match. Senior Billy Belmonte played a big role in Conant’s first half success while playing up at left midfield instead of his usual center back position.

Belmonte played in a number of dangerous balls that caused trouble for the Meadows’ back line. In the 26th minute he crossed to Gio Rocha in the box, but Rocha was denied inside the six on a quality save from Mustangs’ goalkeeper Kevin Murphy.

Murphy tallied 17 saves while under constant pressure for the match’s final hour.

Just after a half hour of action John Buga played a terrific ball down the left sideline to Belmonte for a shot at goal. Murphy’s diving save steered the ball right into the path of Rocha, who scored easily on the rebound.

Buga and Belmonte combined again down the left sideline in the half’s final minute. Belmonte crossed to Zach Conrad, who took a touch to settle and fired past Murphy with just 8.7 seconds left on the clock.

“I usually play defense and when we need to get stuff I go up with the speed,” Belmonte said of his foray into the attack.

Cougars’ coach Jason Franco moved Belmonte back to defense in the second half and will likely resist the temptation to keep him on the outside come playoffs next week. Franco said pushing Belmonte up when trailing is a move that has usually backfired on the defensive end.

“He’s very fast,” Franco said. “I’d love to put him on the wing, but we don’t have enough at the back to live without him.

“Against the good teams we need him and Dan (Ruzich) to anchor the back and he knows that but I’ll give him what I can.”

Ruzich got his own moment on offense in the second half. In the 60th minute he had the ball with space in the attacking half and took the space in front of him. Suddenly he was in the box with an open shot and finished with a low shot to the far post.

Joe Bosco added the fourth in the final ten minutes with a shot from a tight angle on the left side that he tucked into the side netting.

Getting on the board was a big confidence boost for a Cougars’ team that had been shutout in six of its previous nine matches.

“We needed our confidence back and with a 4-0 victory we got it now,” Belmonte said.

On the defensive end there was little to speak of, in the good way, once Conant settled into the match. Patryk Openchowski, with three saves in the first half, and Sean Cox, with two in the second, combined for the shutout in goal.

“We’re not going to play a team like that in the first round, but for some reason we match up really well against them,” Franco said of Meadows. “We beat them 8-0 the first time.

“We play a tough Lake Forest team a week from today and so we gotta try and get some confidence and this is a good start.”

Lake Forest, the No. 5 seed in the Palatine Sectional, plays the No. 12 Cougars on Tuesday at Fremd in a regional semifinal. Franco called the Scouts an organized team that plays similarly to the good teams in the MSL.

“They’ve got some really good results, they beat Libertyville, so we’re expecting them to be the real deal,” he said.

However, if the Cougars play with confidence they believe they can compete in the regional.

“We’re trying to get a big run going,” Belmonte said. “We’ll try.”