Girls soccer: Buffalo Grove, Conant play to draw
Three points was the goal.
But for Buffalo Grove's girls soccer team, the value of earning 1 point for its 0-0 draw with Conant on Wednesday night might prove to be enough to send the Bison into the conference championship game next week.
Two of stingiest clubs in the Mid-Suburban League faced off at Grant Blaney Stadium in Buffalo Grove on Wednesday with Conant in the spoiler's role, and much riding on the outcome for the Bison.
"It's us and Prospect here at the end, and we knew coming that we needed to get ourselves points," said BG coach Pat Dudle. "Even if it was just 1 point.
"We worked as hard as we could against a very good team to earn 1 big point. And now we have one hand on the division trophy and we'd like to get both around it on Friday when we play Elk Grove in our regular-season finale."
The Bison stand at 5-2-3-18 points, with one more victory advancing the club into the MSL Soccer Bowl against Barrington.
After an 8-0 win over Elk Grove, the Broncos can secure a fifth consecutive appearance with a win over Prospect on Thursday.
The Knights, meanwhile, are 2 points ahead of the Bison in the East standings after a 2-1 win over Palatine.
But it's Buffalo Grove which has the tie-breaker after going undefeated against the rest of the division this spring.
"We had most of the run of play from about midway through the second half and all the way through both overtime periods," said Conant coach Jason Franco. "But credit Buffalo Grove and its backline, which defended so well all night long. They went hard into the tackle and made getting space so difficult to find in their end."
The Cougars (9-6-3, 7-2-2, 23 points) are a rather stout bunch themselves along the back. Keeper Taylor Cyr recorded her 11th shutout on the season after she had little trouble between the sticks.
"We've allowed just two opponents in the MSL to score upon us (Barrington and Rolling Meadows), so we're very proud of the effort our back line has given this year after losing most of our starters back there to graduation," Franco said.
Conant created several half-chances, rarely from the run of play with the Bison staying organized while keeping numbers back behind the ball.
BG's back line was led by Danielle Allaire, Dani Bleichman and Sabrina Guercio with support coming from Gina Bolis, who was stationed just in front of her teammates.
"Our defense was just amazing," said Bison keeper Cassie Berman, who turned away the few quality chances on the frame by the Cougars. "I think all of us were a little nervous coming into this game knowing what we needed to do, but we defended all over the field and did what we had to do to get an important point out of this game."
An already short bench slowly got smaller as the match went on.
The Bison lost starting mid-fielder Kara Tyner for good to an injury in the first period. Starter Zoe Robertson was also sidelined for an extended period following an injury.
The biggest loss of the night came when its captain Guercio was ruled out in the 65th minute, forcing Dudle and his staff to improvise the rest of the way.
"We got Zoe back but losing the other two made us move a few players around with the hope it would be enough to keep Conant out of the back of our net," Dudle said.
The Bison basically went with three along the back, while asking both Bolis and Courtney Lee to be holding midfielders. Lee also got forward when the time was right.
All the tactical adjustments only slowed the Cougars slightly, as Kaylin Feeley, Emily and Stephanie Mazurek and Zoe Choro kept the pressure up.
Despite it all, the visitors were unable to beat Berman when they got in close.
"We did a lot of the right things to get in the box," Franco said. "But our composure and decision-making in and around the net needed to be much sharper than it was tonight."
Berman stopped Feeley in close in the 77th minute and once again at 94 minutes to end the hopes of a golden goal by the Cougars.
"We're still in it right here at the end so we'll see what happens on Friday," Dudle said.