Conant duo too much for Palatine

Updated: May 4, 2011 8:32PM

Conant’s Courtney Raetzman and Kaitlin Chiero are dangerous enough threats all by themselves. When they combine, the Cougars are downright unstoppable.

Chiero scored twice and Raetzman had a goal and assisted on one of Cheiro’s scores to lead No. 5 Conant to a 4-1 victory Wednesday over host Palatine.

“At the beginning of year we were more spread out on the field and we found that didn’t really work,” Raetzman said. “So now we stay close and really look for each other on the field.”

Raetzman set up Chiero on her first goal 17:55 into the first half with a pass into the box that the senior strike buried from 12 yards out to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

Both Raetzman and Cheiro scored in the second half to put the game out of reach after the Pirates pulled within 2-1.

“You never know with them. They could turn nothing in to something in a heartbeat and they did that this game,” Conant coach Jason Franco said. “Palatine didn’t give [Raetzman] a whole lot of space today and she picks up one ball in the box and just buries it.”

Sammie Van de Linde also scored and Kelsey Foss assisted Chiero’s second goal with her corner kick for the Cougars (15-2, 10-0 Mid-Suburban West), who wrapped up the regular-season league title with the win.

Conant will play in the Mid-Suburban championship game next Wednesday. The Cougars last played in the MSL Cup in 2001 and have never won it.

“It feels good, we’re all really excited for it,” Chiero said. “We want to see what we can do in the playoffs but we also really want to run the table [in conference] and beat Barrington in our next game.”

Julie Johlie pulled Palatine (7-9-2, 5-5) within 2-1 when she smashed home a rebound from a stop by Lindsay Fillingim (five saves) on a shot by Kaitlyn Mayer.

Palatine central defenders Kellie Strauss and Alexis Dejulio each made important stops in the first half to keep Conant from going in on goal.

Illinois State bound Gabbi McArtor and Maimi, Ohio-recruit Amanda Filian also made several dangerous runs for the Pirates, who controlled play for long periods.

“We outplayed for stretches,” Franco said. “We knew that they were going to play hard and they gave us all we could handle for a while.”

Fillingim made several strong stops for the Cougars including on a point-blank header from Strauss on a second-half corner.

Meghan Ellis and Rachel Rhodes split time in net for Palatine and each made two saves.

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