Palatine passes MSL West test

After cruising to a victory Saturday afternoon over St. Viator, Palatine boys soccer coach Willie Filian made sure the celebration didn't last too long.

Filian knew the Pirates would have their hands full in Monday's Mid-Suburban West at Conant on Monday night.

Perhaps the Pirates' 2-0 victory eased the concerns of Filian, who believes his lads passed a huge test of character with their 80-minute effort.

Johnny Enriquez struck early in the match and teammate Jack Reynolds doubled the Pirates' lead minutes into the second half. Kyle Clancy and his back line mates kept Conant out of the back of the net as the visitors ran their 2011 record to 3-0-0 and earned 3 points with the conference victory.

“Conant has some talented people up front, and plays an exciting attacking style of soccer, so we, of course, were worried how we would handle that type of pressure, especially along the back,” said Filian, whose team beat Viator 4-0.

“But Kyle, Jayson (Palmas) and Ullses (Alcaraz) did a very good job tonight, and (we) were really proud of the effort that they gave us tonight.”

The Cougars (1-2-0, 0-1-0), coming off a 4-0 victory over Downers Grove North in pool play of the Lake Park Lancer Classic last weekend, struggled to find their pace in the first quarter-hour. They gave away the ball in their own end far too much and had trouble playing through the middle of the park at the same time.

“One of the things we pride ourselves on is a lot of high pressure, and playing hard for 80 minutes, and as a unit,” said the senior Reynolds.

While Conant didn't get going in the early stages, its opponent owned most of the run of play during that same time, with Jon Clark, Josh Lee, Rerynolds and others helping the Pirates get cracking off the opening whistle.

Cougars' keeper Sean Cox would send a throw from Clark out of the area with a clearing punch. But it wasn't far enough away from an opportunistic Enriquez, who struck a left-footed one timer in from 30 yards to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the quarter hour.

“We didn't start very well tonight, and we gave away too many balls in our end on mistakes,” said Conant coach Jason Franco, “which led to Palatine having more than their share of deep throws and corners, which they excel at.”

Nathan Cornell helped bring the Cougars alive with some spirited play at the half-hour. But other than a shot over the bar from teammate Joe Bosco, there wasn't much more for the home side faithful to cheer as Clancy and the Palatine back line played tight defense to limit the hosts to just a few quality touches in its own end in the first 40 minutes.

The speed of play increased after the break, and so did the urgency of the moment for the Cougars. After John Livaditis and Clark worked a nice 1-2 in close to force Cox to challenge off his line to stop Clark cold — Reynolds would give the Pirates a 2-goal cushion.

“Jon (Clark) and I have played together (for) four years now, and we've gotten to know each other well enough, and he just put me throw and I had enough of a lucky touch to finish,” said Reynolds, whose finish was anything but lucky, as he delivered a well-paced shot past a diving Cox.

The Cougars didn't go away, and would respond to the Pirates' second strike by pushing numbers forward, including their back line.

Billy Belmonte carried out of the back and found Andres Alfaro, who sent his attempt just wide of the post in the 57th minute.

With the Cougars' attack now running more in the express lane, thanks to Cornell, Alfaro and Michael Natalino, it nearly became 2-1 when Silas Lin crashed his shot off the woodwork, to be followed by Natalino, whose rebound did the same.

In a bizarre 60-second sequence, Enriquez, on the other end, struck the bar with his shot to bring plenty of roars from the big crowd on hand.

Kyle Leber, who once again would share the Pirates' shutout with Evan Held, came off his line to pull down a Cornell free-kick and then save a Bosco strike off a long throw from Belmonte.

“I liked the way that we created chances in the second half, but it's obvious that there are things for us to go back and work on,” said Franco, whose club hosts Streamwood at 7 p.m. today as the Lancer Classic continues.

“Palatine is a good side, and they've got some very nice players, but we know we can be right there with them if we correct some things, and get back to playing the way we know we can.”

Maine West 6, Taft 0: Chayenne Trejo had 2 goals and Tommy Cerri and Mike Wojtan scored for Maine West in its own invitational.