Conant, Elk Grove battle to draw
For pure entertainment value, the boys soccer performance of Conant and host Elk Grove Thursday night rated 4 stars.
The annual Crosstown Classic ended fittingly in a 1-1 draw when Elk Grove's J.J. Lastovich struck the equalizer in the 79th minute in the Mid-Suburban League crossover match.
Elk Grove (0-6-1, 0-3-1) enjoyed most of its success in the first half, only to see its longtime rival take the lead following intermission, then see it slip away ... along with 3 MSL points the Grens would have earned for a victory.
"We were (right) there tonight, but we just weren't able to close this one out," said Conant coach Jason Franco. "Elk Grove had the run of play in the first half, then we gained it back, but it was an amazing individual effort from Leif (Lundgren) that made the difference to send the match into overtime."
Franco watched in disbelief as Lundgren connect with teammate Laskovich in the waning moments of regulation to complete a spectacular goal. It happened in the blink of an eye to shock the visiting Cougars (5-2-3, 2-1-1).
"We just made eye contact before Leif gave me a great ball," said Laskovich, who finished past sophomore keeper Hugo Gonzalez at the tail end of his center channel run.
Gonzalez earned man-of-the-match honors for the Cougars after recording a trio of brilliant saves. His best perhaps came on Lundgren's shot at 74 minutes.
"Hugo was amazing tonight, and he was our star out there just as Leif was for Elk Grove," Franco said.
The Grens slowed the quick Cougars behind a back line that stayed organized and well-positioned throughout its offsides trap and tackling.
"We attacked pretty well tonight, but we just are not as sharp as we need to be in that final third, and (Elk Grove) had something to do with that as well," Franco said.
Lundgren, Daiki Abe, Garrett Greaves and Rafal Borys were responsible for slowing and annoying the Cougars.
In the second half, the Cougars turned up the pressure behind Jimmy Samarjis, Derek Lange, Josh Stone, Conrad Sek and Shivam Patel.
"We realized our effort in the first half wasn't very good, and after a getting a good speech from coach (Franco) during the break, we came out to play like we should against a rival like Elk Grove and before a big crowd," said Cougars midfielder Anthony Rizzo.
Rizzo initiate dthe first goal of the game when he accelerated through the middle and raced past a pair of defenders before heading left and shooting right. An opportunistic Patel shot the ball past keeper Andy Larson at the back post.
"That was a fair result for both sides tonight," said Elk Grove coach Joe Bush. "I am encouraged by the way we played against a very good Conant club, and hoping a match like this will help get us going from here on out."