Pieces falling into place for Barrington
A “work in progress” is the way Mia Calamari described Barrington’s set pieces.
They worked pretty good Tuesday night.
The Fillies scored their first two goals directly off set pieces en route to a 5-0 victory over Huntley in the Class 3A Jacobs girls soccer sectional semifinals in Algonquin.
“We definitely try to make the most out of all our chances on set pieces. We work hard at it,” Calamari said. “Putting them away definitely feels it.”
Calamari took a free kick near the corner flag. Her cross found Molly Pfeiffer, who converted a diving header for a 1-0 Barrington lead with 15:47 remaining in the first half.
Early in the second half, Calamari then scored from about 40 yards out on a free kick. The junior’s shot hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the net for 2-0 lead with 36:51 remaining.
“We knew we were going to have a hard time with their set pieces,” Huntley coach Kris Grabner said. “They are so big and strong. Pfeiffer is ridiculous in the air.”
Jenna Szczesny added a goal with 15:51 to go and Elli Ackerman had 2 goals in less than a 2-minute span later in the half to complete the victory.
“It wasn’t one of our better games to be honest,” Barrington coach Ryan Stengren said. “We can be better than we were today. But it doesn’t matter at this time of year. You don’t get any style points for how good you look. You just want to get by.”
The Fillies (16-4-1) advance to play Rockford Boylan, which beat Cary-Grove 3-0 in the other semifinal Tuesday, in the sectional championship match at 7 p.m. Friday.
For the Red Raiders (17-5-1), it was a familiar end to the season. The Fillies beat Huntley, 2-0, in the sectional final last season. The Red Raiders had just 3 shots on goal on a Barrington defense that has yet to allow a goal in three postseason games. Huntley goalkeeper Kelli Rubino finished with 6 saves.
“We knew we had to play them physical. It was our only chance,” Grabner said. “I thought we fought hard. They worked hard for their opportunities. They deserved to win that game.”
Rockford Boylan 3, Cary-Grove 0: The Trojans were forced to play from behind almost the entire match, allowing a goal less than a minute into the sectional semifinal.
“It puts you in a situation where you have to make choices about how you’re chasing the game,” C-G coach Ray Krystal said. “A few minutes in, the girls settled in and they started to compete.”
Abby Reed scored all 3 goals for Boylan.
The Trojans, who lost to Boylan 4-1 earlier in the season with Reed scoring all 4 goals, did not have a shot on goal. Krystal Felderman made 11 saves for C-G.