Buddy system’s working for Conant
A late second-half scoring spurt broke open a tight match and led to a comfortable 3-0 victory over York late Thursday night in favor of Conant as pool play began at the 23rd Norm Hillner Invite.
Long-time friends Chase Hermanson and Joey Connolly proved too hot to handle in the closing moments of play at Krupke Stadium on the East Campus of Lake Park, striking a pair of lightning-quick goals less than 60 seconds apart to end the hopes of the Dukes.
“Joey and I have been friends since kindergarten and have been playing club soccer together since we were (8), so we know where each other is always going to be,” Hermanson said. “Tonight he and I, and the team, showed we can be dangerous in our attack.”
“This was a nice comeback after getting beat pretty good the other night by Evanston (5-0) in our opener,” said Conant coach Jason Franco, “so not only was it nice to get that first win, but it’s also great to start the tournament with a win as well.”
Conant’s next tournament foe is Downers Grove North at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Things did not look so cheery in the opening stages for the Cougars, who, without keeper Patryk Openchowski, could have been chasing a goal or two just minutes into the match.
“We weren’t very good at the start,” said Franco. “We were a little disorganized and played nervous, and thankfully we had (Openchowski) back there to make a few saves to help keep us in the game.”
The senior keeper was kept busy in the first quarter-hour as the Cougars’ backline tried to keep the pacy duo of Marcus Watkins and Victor Martinez under wraps. But Openchowski stayed composed, never giving up rebounds in addition to putting some extra pressure on the Dukes with several 60-yard punts.
The best chance of the first period fell to Connolly after Branden Dos Santos helped put the junior in on York keeper Colin Weigel. But Weigel, a senior, turned away the close range shot to keep things scoreless at seven minutes.
Tyler Block went over the bar with his attempt, which had Weigel beat at the back post after Connolly put a lovely ball onto the foot of his teammate in the 23rd minute.
The Dukes made the mistake of not marking Dino Kandalepas closely enough after a long throw from Connolly found the senior, and on the turn, he buried his left-footer from 15 yards.
Openchowski turned a Martinez shot just around the post in the 73rd minute to allow the Cougars to stay ahead, but five minutes later Hermanson steered one in from 30 yards after Connolly created the chance.
Then the duo worked a superb 1-2 combination off the counter to beat keeper Joao Sepulveda, who had no chance to stop either goal.
“We’ve got a bunch of hard-working, good kids, but we have a ways to go to get to be where we want to,” said Dukes coach Markus Roy, who was a star keeper for the Chicago Stingers during its championship years as a PDL team playing out of Arlington Heights.