Veteran's day as Conant holds on
In a match that pitted veterans against youth, the veterans won. But the youth didn't exactly lose out, either.
In Thursday's Mid-Suburban League boys soccer crossover with Conant and host Hersey, the Cougars and their ballhandling skills took the contest 2-1.
A soggy field, courtesy of a 10-minute downpour at the beginning of the game, and some gusty winds meant control and passing were essential.
The first evidence of that came when senior Zach Raetzman scored for Conant about 14 minutes in.
A little more than 20 minutes later, Eric Marofske drove to the goal when the Hersey keeper charged, slipped in the mud and went down. Marofske kept control, moved to the left and found the empty net to make it 2-0 for the Cougars (5-1, 2-0).
"We're looking better -- we're starting to grow as a team," Marofske said. "We moved the ball and switched it a lot. We moved them around on 'D.'
"The ball was skidding in the mud a bit, but it didn't matter too much. We're a pretty technical team."
Despite the winning effort, Conant coach Tony Kees feels his team have been troubled by second-half letdowns.
"What's been plaguing us is not playing a good second half," Kees said. "We're trying to grow as a team to play solid for 80 minutes. We're getting there but games we should win comfortably we're making interesting.
"We play some good soccer, but good soccer doesn't necessarily mean winning soccer."
The younger Huskies did turn up the pressure in the second half and it paid off.
Early in the second, Kyle Pietro, one of many sophomores on the field, found the Conant goal to put the Huskies (1-4, 0-2) on the board.
"That was a positive game," said Hersey coach Darren Llewellyn, whose team has played a tough schedule this season. "We really have a good perspective in terms of our inexperience and youth in learning to play against these fast-paced teams. Our defense held great shape in the second half."
Down 2-1, the Huskies continued to press, but everything was controlled by Conant keeper Scott Majercik (3 saves). Hersey keeper Shane McGuinness collected 8 saves.
Other games
Meadows 1, Timothy Christian 0: A second-half goal by Chris Olson was all Meadows (1-4) needed to grab its first home win of the season. Carter Gibson put aside 9 shots to get his first shutout of the season.
Buffalo Grove 2, Fenwick 1: Paul Clementi notched the first goal for Buffalo Grove with the assist coming from Joey Gasso. Brian Urbon scored the game-winner while Mike McEvoy had 6 saves in the Bison net.
Schaumburg 4, Wheeling 0: Schaumburg got 2 goals apiece by senior midfielder Wesley Hollis and junior forward Josh Beard, who also had an assist, in an MSL crossover. Jordan Sandberg had 4 saves for the Saxons (4-1-1, 2-0) to earn the shutout.
Maine West 0, Lake Park 0: Maine West stayed undefeated with a scoreless draw at Lake Park. Warriors keeper Nate Anderson had 12 saves in the shutout.
Prospect 2, Fremd 1: Adam Briggs goal assisted from Tom Kujawa in the 45th minute gave host Prospect a 1-0 lead in its MSL crossover game against Fremd.
Seven minutes later Matt Leanard's goal pulled the visiting Vikings even. But an Anthony Oplawski goal off Collin Wasiak's assist in the 60th minute was enough to give the Knights victory.