Barrington, WW South play to draw
Barrington and Wheaton Warrenville South played to a 1-1 draw Wednesday night in a wonderfully played and fast-paced boys soccer match to earn a well-deserved point in group play of the 23rd annual Barrington Classic.
The Tigers (2-1-1) and Broncos both stand atop their four-team group with 4 points each, with Lake Zurich just a click behind at 3 points.
Thursday will decide who advances into the final on Saturday night, most likely against reigning 3A state champion Rockford Boylan. The host Broncos (1-1-1) finish up pool play against New Trier, while Guy Callipari’s team meets Lake Zurich.
“That was a pretty entertaining match tonight, don’t you think?” asked Barrington coach Scott Steib, after watching his club play hard for 80 minutes.
The bulk of Barrington’s quality chances fell to Grant McAndrew and Reid Strain, two seniors Steib will likely lean on early as several newcomers find their way through the early stages of the season.
“I thought we defended well as a group, especially with (Craig) Zahour leading the way in the middle of the backline,” said Steib, “and for the most part, I am pleased with what I saw, as well as with the overall effort of the guys.”
Callipari agreed with his long-time coaching friend, but added that there’s work to be done in every facet of the Tigers’ game. Still, after just 4 matches, his club appears to be headed in the right direction.
“We saw two different styles thus far — first with New Trier, and tonight against Scott’s club. Although I would have liked us to have better success in the 50-50 balls and to be a little more organized at times, (we) still played some pretty good soccer tonight.”
The first chance of the match fell to the Broncos and Strain, who roared up the right side and sprinted clear of the Tigers backline before lashing a well-struck shot across the face of the goal, but just wide of the back post.
The Tigers answered eight minutes later with an opportunity of their own when Will Huesing deliverd his set-piece from the mid-line toward Broncos keeper Max Redpath. Barrington’s senior allowed the ball to squirt free inside his box, and opportunistic Erik Yamane tried to bend his shot inside the far post, but without success.
Moments later, WW South’s Max Carey sent a corner to teammate Mike Kania, who thumped in his header from 10 yards.
Soon after intermission, the Broncos equalized.
Zahour’s finish at the back post was created by a superb corner sent in from McAndrew.
“Both goals were just great goals to see,” said Callipari.
The hosts almost grabbed the go-ahead after the Zahour goal at 44 minutes as Colter Williams worked a nice 1-2 with Strain.
Dan Burns and Yusuf Yusuf helped rev the Tigers’ attack, along with Nick Smith at the hour mark. But space proved to be too tight in both ends as the defenders kept the ball in front of them.
“Obviously, if we could have won tonight, we would have been through, but if we can come out against New Trier and execute and defend well enough, we will have a chance of getting into the final on Saturday,” said Steib.