Conant, Barrington still tied in MSL West
The Mid-Suburban West will be decided on the final match of the regular season.
A 30-yard missile from Conant senior Kelsey Foss broke a 1-1 deadlock and gave the Cougars the lead for good in a 2-1 victory over MSL East champ Hersey on senior night in Hoffman Estates on Wednesday evening.
The result (14-3-0, 9-1-0-27 points) keeps coach Jason Franco’s Conant team even with Barrington in the race for the top spot in West after the Fillies defeated Palatine 1-0 at home.
Conant improved to 14-3-0 overall and 9-1-0 in the West; both Barrington and Conant have 27 points in the West table.
“This was a big win for us, no doubt, and although it’s not in our hands, we at least give ourselves a chance to advance into the MSL Bowl next week if we can win our final game tonight against Hoffman Estates,” said Franco.
On Friday night, the Fillies travel to Prospect for their league finale.
If the two clubs stay tied after Friday, the Fillies would advance by virtue of their 3-0 victory over Conant in mid-April.
Conant was clearly the more aggressor in the first half, and even without starting midfielder Alyssa Altosino (concussion) sidelined, the Cougars kept the pressure on the Huskies (15-5-2, 9-2-0), who were coming off a 2-1 loss to Elk Grove on Monday.
“We came out here to play, and to play as hard as we could in order to stay sharp for our upcoming championship match next week,” said Hersey coach Brad Abel.
Franco leaned heavily on senior Brittany Hoffman, who took over in the middle for Altosino, as well as role players Sidney and Courtney O’Keefe. Another key was Kayla Severinsen, who came on after Katie Lomas was injured and was unable to return to the Cougars’ backline until the second period began.
“It was a real team effort tonight, and players like Sidney, Courtney and Kayla all stepped it up to help us out tonight,” said senior midfielder Chrissy Rosales, who along with Hoffman helped control the pace of the match.
Conant was unable to solve the Huskies along the back in the first half, until one minute from time when freshman Leah Celarek put her club on the scoreboard.
After superb work from Sammi van de Linde on the far side to keep the ball alive, the senior worked herself free long enough to cross a superb ball with plenty of pace to the back post. Celarek ran onto the cross and thumped her header just inside the post.
The response was quick and determined from the visitors, who drew even just moments after intermission when an unmarked Nicole Pietro ran freely to a cross from Casey Weyhrich to redirect with a header past the outstretched gloves of Cougars keeper Hailey Anderson.
With the fans still on their feet cheering the Pietro equalizer, Foss took a ball around the mid-line and burst forward before unloading her long-range blast past keeper Morgan Harris, who had little time to react.
“Hersey took the momentum away from us so fast with (their) goal, but Kelsey grabbed it right back — and maybe if she doesn’t, the result is much different in the end,” said Franco.
The game opened up after the strike from Foss, leading to a very entertaining, and fast paced final 35 minutes.
Drew Wentzel’s dipping shot was saved smartly by Harris, who stayed with the well-paced shot at 49 minutes. Later, Harris made a wonderful save on Sidney O’Keefe from in close after she was sent through by Courtney O’Keefe.
In between, both sides lost players for the match when Olivia Stasiuk, the 2011 player of the year in the MSL East, knocked heads with Sam Armando. Both went to the bench as a precautionary move.
Abel moved standout midfielder Megan Boyle back to the center of his back line in place of Stasiuk, and it was the absence of Boyle elsewhere that further disrupted the Huskies’ attack for the final 20 minutes.
“Obviously, not having Ollie back (there) hurt us quite a bit, but we still managed to create some things going forward, and I (thought) played a pretty good brand of soccer in the second half,” said Abel.
The Huskies’ best chance came late, when Lauren Gierman sent a nice ball over the top to Kaitlyn Smetana. But an alert Anderson raced off her line to smother the loose ball inside the box.
“We needed this game to give us a chance,” said Foss. “Now we need to take care of Hoffman tomorrow, then hope for a little help from Prospect on Friday.”
Barrington 1, Palatine 0: The host Fillies made a second-half goal from Megan Fox, assisted by Ellie Ackerman, hold up to remain tied with Conant for the division lead.
Prospect 6, Wheeling 1: Kelli Iovino had a pair of goals and the visiting Knights got one apiece from Jesse Petrovski, Sara Helwink, Jenny Novak and Lexi Phillips. Wheeling’s goal came from Alexa Laureano.
Buffalo Grove 4, Hoffman Estates 1: Paige Smith, Sara Busse, Skylar Groth and Colleen Zickert scored to lift the host Bison.
Elk Grove 2, Fremd 1: The host Grens scored twice in the first half, both times by Kelli Hubly, to earn an MSL victory. Bekah Bostrom scored for Fremd, in the second half.
Schaumburg 6, Rolling Meadows 1: Sophomore Alexa Ben scored twice and had an assist, and Becky Sneddon had a goal and an assist as the Saxons handled the visiting Mustangs. Rolling Meadows’ goal came from Ann Marie Lynch.