Boys soccer: Quick start helps Conant blank Jacobs

Conant burst out of the blocks at kickoff to score twice before the half-hour to help set up an eventual 3-0 victory over Jacobs Tuesday afternoon as pool play continued in the Barrington Classic boys soccer tournament.

Kanau Takahash's blistering free kick blast in the ninth minute gave the Cougars the only goal they would need at Millennium Field in Streamwood, before teammate Carson Belcher doubled the lead at 21 minutes to give coach Jason Franco's club some breathing room in what would be a terrific opening first period of play.

"Today we played so much better than (Monday) in our tournament opener against Boylan. We connected our passes, controlled the midfield, and made sure that Jacobs never really got its attack going, especially in the first half," said Franco, whose club, now 1-2-0, lost on Monday to Boylan, and will now finish pool play on Thursday against Streamwood.

"That wasn't the start we wanted to have," said Jacobs head coach Colin Brice, whose Golden Eagles played a man down for the last 29 minutes.

"The calls, and yellow cards had nothing to do with the final result. Conant was the better team today. We're young, inexperienced, but have a lot of talent that just needs to play games together in order for us to sort things out."

Jacobs (1-2-0), which will play Boylan on Thursday in its final pool play contest, showed plenty more energy, and urgency just after the intermission, but AJ Baran dashed the hopes of a Golden Eagles comeback when he steered in the Cougars' third goal in the 47th minute.

Shotaro Seto had a chance to pull one back for Jacobs in the 65th minute if not for a superb point-blank stop by Cougars keeper Varun Mittal, who recorded the shutout.

"Having (Takahash) back after missing our game with Boylan was key for us, and along with Carson Belcher and Peter Cirbo, they give our attack plenty of pace, energy, and creativity," said Franco.