Conant outlasts St. Charles East in 3 OTs

The smallest girl on the field scored the biggest goal of the season to date for Conant's girls soccer team Saturday afternoon.

After 104-plus minutes of physical, hard-nosed end-to-end play, 4-foot, 11-inch sophomore forward Courtney Raetzman converted on a breakaway midway through the third overtime period to seal the third-seeded Cougars' 2-1 triumph over No. 11 St. Charles East (8-9-3) in Class 3A regional championship action held at Norris Stadium.

"I have good determination," Raetzman said of her seemingly never-ending energy. "I knew that this could be our last game so we had to get pumped up together and try to get through it."

Raetzman didn't know how the ball wound up her way on the game-winning play but she knew certainly what to do with it as she delivered her ninth goal of the season, sending Conant (11-5-3) to Tuesday's sectional semifinals against host Schaumburg (14-2-3).

"To be honest, I'm not sure what happened but whatever it was it worked out."

After a slow start, Raetzman and junior teammate Kaitlin Chiero helped the Cougars out-shoot the Saints 13-5 during the second half and three overtime sessions.

"She got a little lucky because the ball popped through to her and she finished," Conant coach Jason Franco said of Raetzman. "But that's where we rely on her.

"In our big wins this year it's because her and Chiero have been able to unlock a defense pretty much just the two of them."

Fresh from their opening-round upset of sixth-seeded Wheaton North Tuesday, the Saints got on the board first as junior forward Lauren Rohrmeier got behind the Cougars' defense and chipped a shot over the head of goalkeeper Lindsay Fillingim.

St. Charles East out-shot Conant 5-1 during the game's first 40 minutes.

"We weren't surprised," Franco said of the Saints' first goal. "I told our girls before the game that this is not an 11th seed kind of team. They're the real deal."

Midway through the second half, a controversial hand ball call in the box resulted in the equalizer as the Cougars' Kelsey Foss converted the penalty kick.

"If you watch it at the highest level, they call that," said Franco, who enjoyed a happy homecoming of sorts after losing just one home game as a 4-year soccer player at St. Charles East in the late 1990s. "Sometimes here they (officials) say the player intentionally has to handle it. If I was on his (Saints coach Paul Jennison) side, I would've been the same way - I would've argued about it."

Jennison obviously saw things a little differently.

"The definition of a hand ball is that there has to be intent," he said. "There was no intent. Then down here our girl goes for a clear header, gets pushed and the ref never gives it.

"For these girls to have lost this championship on home ground because of two awful decisions is heartbreaking for them."

It turned out to be a frustrating day for the Saints, who received solid defensive play from Liz Drennan, Maggie Hoscheit and Shaylee Pedersen, among others, and some game-saving stops from senior keeper Zoe Samaan.

"We were trying to pull through," said Rohrmeier. "We all wanted this game so badly. It hurts because we're not going to have a group of girls like this ever again."

"Congratulations to Conant, I wish them all the best but what happened to these girls today - I feel awful for them," said Jennison.