Boys soccer: Barrington survives Buffalo Grove's concerted effort
An inspired performance by goalkeeper Brett Sprengel and a first-half PK conversion from Klaus Pallan helped Barrington's boys soccer team ward off potential elimination against No. 15 seed Buffalo Grove Wednesday night in a regional opener at Barrington Community Stadium.
The No. 2-seeded Broncos (18-3-1), who recently advanced into the MSL Soccer Cup, were outplayed most of the night by the upset-minded Bison (8-10-4).
Buffalo Grove opened strong and never let down until the final whistle ended the season for Brad Abel's team.
"We obviously saved our best for last tonight, came out and brought our best," Abel said. "But it still wasn't enough against a very talented team. All I'm thinking about right now is how proud of all these guys.
"To me, that early save by their keeper set the tone, and after that he made three or four great saves to keep them in the game while we just couldn't find a way to put even one into the back of the net."
The Bison head coach marveled at the show the aforementioned Sprengel put on in his debut as starting keeper for the MSL West champs. Sprengel was filling in for the full-time senior keeper Alex Ruffolo, who was forced to sit out after being sent off in the MSL Soccer Cup after a 50-50 challenge outside the Broncos box.
"What a back-up keeper Scott has," Abel said. "He sure didn't play like one tonight, but again, on a championship team like they have, it's not a complete surprise that even a second keeper like him could likely start for a lot a teams in the area."
The junior smartly saved a well-paced low drive from Manny Mazariegos in the third minute, an attempt which came out of a crowd and quickly to the alert Sprengel.
The Bison threw their opponents a much-needed lifeline in the 19th minute by bringing down Barrington's Caleb Orr in the box after the senior received a nicely flicked header from Pallan, who nodded his helper forward from a Nash Pirie freekick.
Pallan promptly steered in his 25th goal of the season from the spot.
"That was only one of two shots we got on frame in a first half where we came out flat, and without any energy or urgency, and it went downhill from that," said Barrington coach Scott Steib. "Our hope is we got our stinker out of the way early, and survived despite playing so poorly."
Kevin Eloiza, Erick Hernandez, Mazariegos and especially senior Alex Alfaro gave Barrington trouble all night. If Alfaro wasn't tricking his way through the Broncos deep in their own end, then he was creating a handful of chances for others.
"Alex was a special player tonight, and was clearly the best player from both clubs for 80 minutes," said Steib.
Sprengel was brilliant on consecutive attempts by the Bison as the first half neared an end, first taking a sure goal out of the net from Tyler Nieman, and moments later turning a wicked smash by Max Kilkuszowian up and over.
Sprengel continue to excel after intermission, denying Alfaro on an enterprising run.
Barrington, which faces No. 10 seed Stevenson in Saturday's 3 p.m. regional final, came alive for a brief time after that, with a nice build up from Hudson Walsh and Nash Pirie resulting in Orr having a go from in close.
Walsh, Pirie, Josh Coulter and John Gadbois tighened things up along the back for the final 10 minutes as the Broncos fought for the opportunity to advance.
"We were not very good tonight, but a lot of that has to be credited to Brad and his guys, who pressured us right from the start, and really made things difficult for us," said Steib.