Boys soccer: Barrington boots its way into MSL Cup
Barrington put to rest, once and for all, any chances for the rest of the Mid-Suburban West boys soccer teams with a 2-0 victory over Conant on Saturday at Barrington Community Stadium.
The Broncos (15-2-1, 9-0-0, 27 points) booked their place in the 40th MSL Soccer Cup in two weeks. They will play on the road at Hersey or Wheeling in the championship contest on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m.
The victory capped a big week of league play for Barrington. The Broncos captured 9 points with three consecutive shutouts, including a big one two days ago against Hersey. Stopping Conant (10-5-0, 6-3-0, 18) made Barrington's points lead insurmountable.
"All of us felt with so many of us back, there was a good chance we could win the MSL West and make it to the MSL Cup," said Zach Carbonara, who co-captains the team with Nash Pirie. "But now that we've done that, it feels really good knowing we'll have a chance to be the conference champs."
Cougars coach Jason Franco said his team came out very strong in the first 10 minutes to show its intent.
"But our play fell off after our great start, and a couple of soft goals, one or two calls here and there, and suddenly Barrington exposed us," he said. "They made us do things we didn't want to, and we just didn't make the plays we had to - they clearly were the better team and deserved the result today."
The visitors tackled hard, won their fair share of first and second balls, and matched the Broncos' pace and work rate during the early exchanges.
That allowed Michael Rizzo to head wide a Jason Fillingham free kick, and later a shot on frame by Kevin Sindewald which forced keeper Alex Ruffolo into action.
"We had a very competitive game with Conant the first time we met, and we knew Jason had his guys playing at a very high level of late," said Barrington coach Scott Steib, who last guided the Broncos into the MSL Cup in 2013 against eventual Class 3A state runner-up Wheeling. "So we expected them to come out and play us tough from the start. But after we weathered the storm, we finally got on our front foot and played some very good soccer today."
Klaus Pallan might have caught the Cougars off guard as they prepared to set up a proper wall to defend his 24-yard free kick.
But the junior struck his half-hour attempt through the trio of defenders and past keeper Piotr Pyz, who was unable to stop Pallan's 22nd goal of the season.
"It's amazing to think that Klaus has scored in every game that he's played in," said Steib, who has had Klaus sidelined by three games due to injury. "It is really quite an accomplishment if you ask me."
A furious wave of pace in the Broncos' attack nearly saw the Cougars concede an own goal.
Carbonara, Enrico Ruffolo and Pirie combined to put one inside the 6-yard box in the 47th minute.
Connor Delahunt's work rate was rewarded when the junior redirected a Pirie corner into the back of the net in the 63rd minute to double the Broncos' advantage.
Moments later, the Cougars appeared to draw closer, only to have an offsides flag end that hope.
"It's tough to lose after we had such a good start today, but we just didn't match what Barrington was able to do against us," said Conant back-line standout Matt Biernat, who initiated the eventual offside goal with a superb free kick from the midline. "So now we've got to turn our attention to getting better and ready for the postseason in a couple of weeks."
"Coach (Steib) told us we've come such a long way this season, that in fact, we would have never beaten a great team like Hersey with the way we played in the first week or two of the season," Carbonara added. "So with the improvement from everyone on this roster, we're now in a position to be MSL champs."