Conant falls in second OT
James Ankerman’s close-range finish at 98 minutes broke the hearts of Conant and its faithful and gave No. 5 Lake Forest (14-4-1) a 2-1 comeback victory late Tuesday night in the Fremd Class 3A regional semifinal in Palatine.
The North Suburban Conference champion Scouts, who were forced to chase the game for over an hour after Zach Conrad stunned them at 12 minutes with a thunderous cracker, finally drew even in the 76th minute.
Then they escaped a pair of close calls when the Cougars went close in the second overtime session. Ankerman redirected the game-winner past a diving Sean Cox, who was superb for the No. 12 Cougars (6-11-3) and coach Jason Franco.
Lake Forest plays No. 4 Fremd for the regional title at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
“That’s a game I really felt we should have won,” said a disappointed Franco. “We were terrific in that first half, totally dominating play, and if we could have finished one of our chances and gone up 2-0, then their late goal would have been just a consolation goal.
“But even with that, we had a couple of great chances in that second OT period, but when you look back, that’s kind of how our season went this year.”
The Cougars’ Nate Cornell, Michael Natalino and Andres Alfaro clearly had far too much pace for the Scouts in the opening exchanges. Conrad and Joe Bosco won nearly every ball in the middle of the park, to help keep all-state candidate Michael Shipp off the ball, and it seemed to be only a matter of time before they would find the back of the net.
Dan Ruzich would supply a wonderful over the top and with a burst of speed, Conrad would beat a pair of Scouts’ defenders to the ball, take a touch and unload a high-powered shot past keeper Samuel Franklin Audley, who had little time to react to the 12-yard blast.
The Cougars, who lost Tristan Conrad to a concussion, would keep the pressure on the Scouts up until 50 minutes. They would count on Cox to keep them in front of their opponent, which finally began to find its form, as well as Nikolas Svigos and Peter Passalino on a regular basis.
“The great thing about this team is that it never panics, even when we get ourselves into a little trouble,” said Lake Forest coach Rob Parry, “and while Conant enjoyed the run of play in the first-half, the guys stayed composed and knew that if they kept working, it would finally fall their way.
“Although, I wish it didn’t take so long for (it) to happen.”
When the Cougars’ were unable to clear the area for what seemed like an eternity, John Moderwell kept things alive and sent a lovely ball into the 6-yard box — where Kevin Goon slotted past a diving Cox to all but assure overtime.
In the first 10-minute session, most of the play went from box-to-box, but it was all Conant in the next. Cornell put the Scouts on theirs heels with consecutive quality balls through and then was part of a terrific 1-2 combination with Gio Rocha, which resulted in the senior going wide in the 96th minute.
Ankerman, who scored the game-winner in the NSC championship match against Lakes, earned man-of-the-match honors once again when he redirected a helper from Goon in the 98th minute to seal the victory.
“We deserved to win tonight, but sometimes that’s not the way it happens,” Franco said. “I am very proud of everyone on this team after the effort they gave for almost 100 minutes of soccer.”