Grzegorek takes advantage of time out

An ejection with time running out left Blaine Grzegorek on one end of the pool and out of the action.

But Conant's defense stopped Schaumburg's man-advantage possession and gave the senior an opportunity to make up for his foul. Gregg Longo found Grzegorek down the water on transition, and Grzegorek fired the deciding goal with 1:17 to go for a 6-5 victory.

Conant's win on April 3 put some separation in the MSL West standings, leaving the Cougars at 5-0 entering the week. The Saxons rebounded with a 9-4 win over Hoffman Estates on Monday to stand 5-1. Barrington and Fremd both were tied at 2-3 through Monday's action.

"Everyone is after us now," Grzegorek said.

The Cougars were scheduled to play Buffalo Grove on Tuesday before hosting the Broncos today (Thursday). Schaumburg was slated to face Vernon Hills on Wednesday.

In the showdown between undefeated West teams, the Saxons held the advantage early, scoring three in the second to lead 4-2. Conant answered with three goals of its own in the third to go ahead 5-4.

After Schaumburg's tying tally in the fourth, Conant goalie Tony Passaro made one of his nine saves to set up Grzegorek's game-winner.

"I told the guys at the half that we were still in the game," Conant coach Erik Hauser said. "We just needed a momentum swing, and it happened. The guys performed very well."

Schaumburg's style of play in the first half surprised Conant and the Saxons took advantage.

"They weren't playing like what we knew," Grzegorek said. "They switched it around on us by feeding it to the hole.

"We knew we had the talent to beat them, and coach Hauser made the adjustments to give us a good game plan to come back."

Mike Varga led the Cougars with four goals, while Pat Kraulis scored twice for the Saxons. Chris Corbett, Anthony Darovec and Mark Rosenblum each added goals in a losing effort. Schaumburg keeper Neal Salemi matched Passaro with nine saves.

Conant, for the seventh time, limited its opponent to five goals or fewer, further cementing the Cougars as one of the top defensive teams in the league. Meanwhile, the Saxons also showed a defense that will keep them in most matches, allowing five goals or fewer six times; no team has scored more than nine goals.

"Close games like this are good," said Hauser, whose team entered Tuesday's match 12-3-1 overall. "We need games like this going into the second half of the season."