Boys soccer: Barrington wins a wild one at Fremd
Barrington's boys soccer team began the defense of its Mid-Suburban West title in style, building a 3-0 lead before holding off hard-charging host Fremd on Tuesday night.
Connor Delahunt and Michael Blanke struck quickly to give the Broncos 2 goals in the first nine minutes, and Klaus Pallan added a third in the 20th minute before the Vikings' attack awoke with three of its own in the second half during an exciting 4-3 decision in Barrington's favor.
“We came in here tonight with an all-time record of 15-38-4 against Fremd — easily one of the most storied programs in the 40 years of the MSL,” said Barrington coach Scott Steib, whose team improved to 5-2-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the MSL. “So for us to come out with 3 points in our division opener is a big deal.
“Our first 20 minutes was terrific. We did just about everything we wanted to, including putting three into the back of the net. But we've got to figure out a way to play like that for 80 minutes, because Fremd played extremely well in the second half — much better than we did, and we ended up working very hard to earn this win.”
The hosts' confidence suffered when Delahunt finished at seven minutes, and it took only two minutes for the Vikings (1-4-1, 0-2-0) to concede a second goal.
Then, with time and space on the right side, Enrico Ruffolo measured his brilliant and accurate cross into the 6-yard box where Pallan was left unchallenged to head in his fifth goal of the season.
“This season, we've gone through lapses' like we did tonight and against Wheeling in our season opener, and we find ourselves chasing the game,” said Fremd senior and co-captain Dalton Rogers, a key figure in the Vikings' second-half turnaround.
“We showed we can play with Barrington in the second half, now we have to come out and play with confidence from the start. And then we'll get the results we know we're capable of.”
“We did not play well in the first 20-25 minutes — it showed on the scoreboard,” said Fremd coach Steve Keller. “But we had a couple of quality chances ourselves, which if we put in might have turned things around a little bit in the end, who knows?”
Despite the 3-0 deficit, Fremd went to a more expansive attacking formation after the break, with the likes of Russell Beaupre, Max Mayer, Matt Austin and Jake Schoffstall providing the inspiration to the Vikings' response.
Fremd threw everything at the Broncos and fine defender Nathan Patterson and keeper Brett Sprengel, who made a couple of wonderful saves. But in the 54th minute, it appeared the visitors had closed out the hosts for good when Ethan Lew made it 4-0.
“Our energy just dropped after that goal. It was as if we all knew the game was over,” said Patterson.
Beaupre pulled one back in the 54th minute from 22 yards, and Rogers thumped his header just under the bar when he elevated over everyone to meet a corner in the 68th minute.
Steib, who had brought a handful of his starters off when it became 4-1, sent them back in during a frantic final 10 minutes of regulation as it became one-way traffic for a now revved-up Vikings attack.
Ben Cuthbert hit an unstoppable blast into the upper right corner to pull Fremd within 4-3 in the 70th minute. But Barrington defended two corners and deep throws down the stretch to preserve its hard-fought 3-point night.
“None of us predicted 7 goals would be scored out here tonight, but I'm glad we were able to come out of here with an important win in our division,” said Steib.