Boys soccer: Conant and Hersey win, advance to MSL Soccer Cup
Marko Gouk netted a second-half hat trick to lead visiting Conant to a 5-1 victory over Rolling Meadows in a Mid-Suburban League semifinal contest Monday night at Robert Hoese Field.
The win sends the Cougars (13-2-3) into the 50th MSL Soccer Cup to face Hersey (15-0-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Arlington Heights in a rematch of the 2024 final won by the Huskies, who beat Barrington 3-2 on Monday to advance.
“We just didn't match the energy they had in the first half,” said Gouk, who now has eight goals on the season. “They possessed and moved the ball so much better than we did, and they showed so much more urgency than we did.”
“Even though we scored that early first goal (they) had almost all of the play. And I agree, their energy and spirit was really very good,” teammate Shamus Devine said.
Junior Alex Szynalik opened the scoring at six minutes when he finished on an assist from Ramzan Chubakov.
“Despite going into the break with a 1-0 advantage, I never really felt comfortable at all in the first half,” said Cougars coach Jason Franco.
“(Rolling Meadows) likes to play the game the way it should — they possess, pass, do a lot of really good combination play, and we only unlocked them just once on the Szynalik goal,” Franco said.
Despite having a high percentage of pass completions, and showing plenty of purpose in their build-up play, the Mustangs created just a few chances and corners during the first half. Noah Dwyer twice tested Cougars keeper Sam Molberger.
“We were all over them in the first half, but I still thought we played timid, did not communicate, and we just were not sharp enough in the final third in order to be dangerous,” said Mustangs coach Brett Olson.
Gouk stole the show when he bagged two goals just sixty seconds apart, his first coming in the 52nd minute at the back post.
With a three-goal advantage, Gouk took a cross-field ball from Devine before finishing with another touch at 66 minutes.
Rodrigo Zapata scored for Rolling Meadows in the 72nd minute, but Alex Cunningham answered moments later to increase Conant’s lead.
The Mustangs will begin to prepare for their regional opener against Round Lake (10-4-1) on Oct. 20.
The last time Conant lifted an MSL championship trophy was in 2002. This will be the ninth MSL Soccer Cup appearance for Conant and the 11th for Hersey, which received goals by Daneil Shon, Adam Myslinski and Johnny Antoniou in its win over Barrington.