C-G coasts past McHenry in FVC Valley opener

Cary-Grove’s Michael McKune (right) celebrates with Brett Fotré after Fotré scored a goal Monday in Cary. The Trojans beat McHenry, 3-1. (Lance Booth – lbooth@shawmedia.com)

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CARY – In the final 10 minutes of Cary-Grove’s soccer match Monday, Drew Conner saw teammate Bret Fotré make a run toward McHenry’s left goal post and thought he could hit him in stride.

Conner fed Fotré a perfect pass to his head, and the senior midfielder shoved it toward the back of the Warriors’ net. McHenry keeper Frank Valle looked quizzically at the ball as it came off Fotré’s forehead; the shot didn’t look like it could possibly land on Valle’s side of the post.

It did. C-G made everything look easy in its Fox Valley Conference Valley Division opener and cruised to a 3-1 win against the Warriors.

“We knew what we needed to do,” said Conner, a senior midfielder who is committed to Wisconsin. “We knew that McHenry was a good team coming into it. We looked at their record, we looked at the teams they had played and we knew they’d had a lot of success, so we knew it would be a good game and we’d have to show up ready to play.”

The Trojans’ attack is predicated on good possession, and C-G (10-2 overall, 1-0 FVC Valley) did not often lose it. The Trojans possessed well right away, and McHenry struggled to get the ball out of its defensive third.

Many teams do not remain disciplined for long stretches without error, but C-G managed to maintain its composure for most of the first half and finally formulated a successful attack.

Senior midfielder Mike Loke sent a laser pass from the top of the penalty area that found Conner on his run near the far post. Conner took a touch and sent the ball past McHenry keeper Frank Valle (nine saves) for the 1-0 advantage in the 36th minute of the match.

The Trojans made it 2-0 early in the second half when junior midfielder Mike McKune converted a free kick from the top of the penalty area.

Conner connected with Fotré in the 72nd minute for the Trojans’ final goal.

“They’ve been phenomenal in what they’ve done,” C-G coach Mark Olson said. “They move very well together and ... and they’re patient. We’ve been able to go ahead and play faster, we can move it around, we can go direct, we can do all kinds of things, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

McHenry avoided the shutout with senior midfielder Arturo Diaz’s goal in the 76th minute. Diaz got the pass off a corner kick from teammate Tony Quintero and knocked it just past C-G keeper Tom Breen (three saves).

“We hung in there as best we could,” McHenry coach Tony Caruso said. “They had some good finishes off our mistakes, but that’s what good teams do. We just didn’t get enough offensive punch against them. We settled for playing defense, and if we’re going to do that then we can’t make mistakes.”

• Follow Maureen Lynch on Twitter at NWH_molynch.