Raetzman paces Conant past Rolling Meadows

Updated: April 30, 2011 10:22PM

After her hat trick paced Conant in a 5-0 win over Rolling Meadows on Saturday, Courtney Raetzman had no idea how many goals she has scored or what her No. 3 Cougars’ record is this season.

The girl just plays the game.

For the record, Conant improved to 12-2 with Saturday’s win, also getting goals from Kaitlin Chiero and Alyssa Altosino and staying unbeaten at 8-0 in Mid-Suburban League play.

And the unassuming Raetzman now has 16 goals on the year for a Conant team that played on grass for only the fourth time this year.

“She can play on grass. Courtney played outstanding and she has been,” Conant coach Jason Franco said. “And I thought we played solid in the back again.”

Conant keeper Lindsay Fillingim and her back line of Kim Trinco, Kelsey Foss, Kelly Lomas and Drew Wentzel posted their 10th shutout Saturday. The Cougars played a player down after a red-card infringement at 62 minutes, and Fillingim stood tall.

The senior keeper saved a head shot at point-blank range, charged off her line to take a ball off the foot of a Mustang, and cut off an attempted cross in preserving the shutout.

Fillingim was happy to get the work during a season in which her defenders have shined in back and protected her well.

“People have started to tell me I need to take them out to dinner to thank them for it,” Fillingim said. “And we’ve been (down a player) before and we were ready for it. I think we have the best defensive line in the area. We’ve only given up one goal in the conference.”

Conant pressured well from the outset but didn’t break the ice until Chiero sent a diagonal ball ahead to Raetzman from midfield. The speedy junior ran onto it went in alone on Mustangs’ keeper Sarah Bohac.

Altosino made it 2-0 before halftime with a blast from 20 yards out that rocketed down off the crossbar and landed behind the goal line.

Raetman’s two second-half goals from roughly 18 yards out sandwiched Chiero’s goal in securing the win. Conant plays Prospect and Palatine next week in pursuit of the MSL West title.

“We play Barrington next Saturday and we’d like for that game to not mean anything,” Franco said. “If we can win our next two (MSL) games we can clinch the division.”

Raetzman and her young squad hope to continue to turn heads this season. “Our win over Fremd and then playing well against Neuqua was huge for us,” she said. “Those games were huge for our confidence.”

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