Wildcats 'family' coming together

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By Steve Nemeth

With Conant coming out flat, host Neuqua Valley scored early and then scored often in steamrolling the Cougars 7-0 in Saturday’s non-conference meeting.

If it was the other kind of football, that final tally wouldn’t be a cause for a double-take, but the outcome – fueled by a 6-0 Wildcat halftime advantage --- caught both coaches by surprise.

“It was a surprise to me. I didn’t expect this because Conant does a lot of the little things really well,” admitted Neuqua Valley coach Tony Kees, who was the longtime coach at Conant.

“While it got a little lopsided in the first half, quite honestly I thought they still did a lot of the little things better than we did, we just had a lot of luck finishing.”

It began just 2:33 after the opening whistle when Neuqua Valley’s Andrew Kovacevic found Ryan Ross open for a five-yard strike from the right side.

“On the first goal, I saw the ball bouncing around in the box, so I just thought I’d bury it and it worked out perfect,” Ross stated. “We’ve been working on our shooting a lot lately, and I think it really helped a lot in this game.”

Fresh off a hat trick in Tuesday’s come-from-behind 3-1 triumph at Metea Valley, the Wildcat freshman phenom almost chalked up a fifth consecutive goal 15 minutes later were it not for a solid catch for Cougar starting goalie Patryk Openchowski.

Unfortunately for Conant, the very next Neuqua attack didn’t end as well. Kevin Osoba’s hard blast resulted in a rebound carom that Drake Leary alertly put into the back of the net from 11 yards out on the left side in the 18th minute. Emotionally, the hosts looked like a team on its way to a fourth straight victory and a fifth triumph within the last six contests for a 6-2-1 record.

With four goals within the last 11:44 of the opening half, it was a déjà vu nightmare for Conant, which endured a 4-0 loss Friday night at Buffalo Grove and now stands 4-5-3.

“We played a tough team last night, and they were very, very good; I would argue that they’re better than Neuqua, but instead of rebounding, we came out going through the motions in warm-up and it was clear the guys weren’t fired up (today),” Franco noted. “I don’t know if they were physically tired or what. A lot of guys played 80 minutes, but the combination of al that, plus having a lot of key players out, made things worse.

“We were down three starters at the beginning and lost another starter last night. When you’re playing a good Neuqua team, it’s not like you can afford any of the stuff like that,” Franco concluded.

The floodgates opened when Felix Bueschen’s stellar service put Kevin Skrip in a 1-v-1 position with Openchowski near the left post. Although the Cougar keeper blocked the attempt, he couldn’t stop Skrip’s follow-up two-yarder. Just over a minutes elapsed before Skrip took the ball to the corner and worked his way back along the end line to feed Ross for a 14-yarder from the right side with 10:32 still to be played for the first half.

“(Assists or goals) they’re all kind of similar in a way when it comes to getting a win,” Skrip said. “Whenever I make a good pass, or a good through ball; it’s kind of like scoring a goal. Whenever I can help a teammate out to score a goal, it brings energy to both of us and the whole team.”

Skrip deposited his team-best sixth goal of the season with 4:53 remaining as he took a Ross pass and dribbled past the goalie for an empty net finish.

“Ryan and I have a great partnership going,” Skrip added. “We’ve been chasing the ball around, passing and working together, which creates many chances for both of us, and today I put two in.”

When an Osoba blast caromed off the right post, Alex Liu followed with a six-yard left-footed blast for the 6-0 halftime lead which helped bring Sean Cox off the Conant bench and into the net for the second half.

Nick Smith’s through ball had Liu racing in for an early second-half goal when he was tripped inside the box. When Smith converted the PK at 41:26, the seven-goal mercy rule reduced the reminder of the match to 19:17. That’s when Zack Goldstein took over from Hunter Hollingshead in the Neuqua goal. The two keepers combined to post the fourth “clean sheet” for the Wildcat defense.

“We’re coming together as a family finally. I think you have play like a family unit in order to do well,” said senior defender Stephan Kovacevic. “Our practices have been much more intense, and more put together, because they’re like an extension of the classroom where we have to learn together. We have to be disciplined and bounce ideas of each other in order to learn.  Our keep-away sessions, our shooting sessions, our defensive sessions, are all like classes which we learn together so that it comes together better.”

However, 24 years of teaching / coaching soccer means Kees knows all too well that fortunes can turn quickly based on one match, one injury, one missed opportunity, or one lapse of focus as demonstrated by the Cougars.

“Things were stacked up against them, playing less than 24 hours earlier, missing some key guys, and they still managed to out pass us. So we still have a lot to work on,” Kees said. “We are getting better, a little more consistent. Our forwards are starting to play together and there’s a bit more of a partnership between Ryan and Kevin, and other parts of the field are coming along. It’s a lot better than it was three weeks ago.”

The improved play sets the Wildcats up for a crucial Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division contest at home Tuesday afternoon against East Aurora. The Tomcats --- 7-2-1 after a Saturday 3-1 Pepsi Showdown win – are 1-0-0 in loop play while Neuqua Valley enters with a 2-0-0 ledger.

Conant starts a pair of home dates with a Tuesday Mid-Suburban League East Division contest against Schaumburg leading Franco to hope his squad can put Saturday’s showing out of their minds.

“The only positive that could possibly come out of this is that it motivates us. That would be the only thing,” Franco continued. “If we want to make any positive strides the rest of the year, then think of this as a turning point, we don’t ever want to have this feeling again. Certainly nothing on the field was a positive.”