Reliably, Pallan powers Barrington past Marmion

Once again, Hans Pallan had the final say.

For the fourth time in as many games, the Barrington striker pulled the trigger on the game-winner. On Wednesday night it was a spectacular finish at 68 minutes to give the tourney hosts a 2-1 victory over Marmion Academy in boys soccer tournament play.

The win improved the Broncos' overall record to 4-0-0 and gave coach Scott Steib's team a 2-0-0 record in pool play at the 27th annual Barrington Classic. Barrington has 6 points, with Boylan, the opponent Thursday, trailing with 3 points.

"It was a very good result," said a pleased Steib, now in his 16th year as head coach. "I thought we played well for most of the night - had our chances early to put one or two in, and again at the start of the second half - but still found ourselves trailing.

"But this is a good group, which plays hard for 80 minutes, and good things are going to happen when you play that way."

"There's a lot of heart and fight in this team," said Barrington's Nash Pirie, who along with his back-line mates John Gadbois and Braeden Nelson, provided a solid, organized wall to keep the Cadets (1-1-2) from getting only a few quality chances on Broncos keeper Alex Ruffolo.

"That's a big, strong, and fast team that we played tonight, but it was great test for us today to play against a team that plays with that kind of style," said Cadets coach Ricky DelToro, who posted a brilliant prep career at his alma mater before moving onto the collegiate game after his 2002 graduation. "They had most of the play in that first half, but we were fortunate to put one in on them when Sean Miller scored his third of the season. We struggled a little after the break, and they took advantage of us because of it."

Cadets keeper Danny Galush, made two consecutive near-post saves in the first five minutes, one on Caleb Orr, and the second against Pallan to help his club survive the early pressure on this hot and humid night.

Pallan missed an open net at 13 minutes on a redirect after teammate Zach Carbonara rattled the post with a heavy touch, and the Broncos' inability to finish their chances came back to haunt them just before the half-hour.

Miller, who was one of the Cadets' most active players, ran freely to meet Nelson's corner to stun the Broncos, finding the back of the net on the Cadets' lone chance of the first period.

"That's the way the game goes sometime, but I knew if we could get back even, it would be the momentum we would need to get another one,"

said Pirie.

And that's pretty much what happened, as a flurry of activity inside the box saw Luke Sellers send his low drive on frame. Galush saved with a valiant effort, only to see Orr steer his low attempt in the 56th minute.

The Broncos' search to go ahead came in the 68th minute, when Pirie's long free kick from just inside the mid-line seemed as if it were on a string and connected to Pallan, who ran onto the superb ball and drove it past Galush.

DelToro then pushed three up top - Miller, Quinn Gratz, and 2014 scoring leader Nick Grant - for the last ten minutes. But the Cadets were unable to draw even.

Marmion, now 1-1-0 in group play, will finish up its tournament with a game against Lake Zurich on Thursday.