Boys soccer: Barrington powers past Wheeling
An enormously entertaining boys soccer game between the top two squads in the Mid-Suburban League standings ended with Barrington coming away with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Wheeling on Tuesday night.
The Broncos (14-3-0, 8-0-0) left with another 3 points to tighten its grip on the division that now has coach Scott Steib's club with 24 points. That's 8 points clear of second-place Conant, while Wheeling is now even with Buffalo Grove in the MSL East with 21 points after the Bison edged Schaumburg 1-0.
"Maybe it's a game that could have gone either way, I don't know - Wheeling is so dangerous. But no doubt, it was a big win for us," said Steib, whose club showed plenty of resilience when the Cats threw everything they had at them after Omkar Prabhavalkar gave the visitors the lead for good in the 66th minute.
"We had a lot to play for tonight in addition to avenging last year's loss in the MSL Soccer Bowl to this team," said Barrington senior Klaus Pallan, who along with Michael Blanke did their best to stretch and pressure the Wildcats' back line.
There were plenty of match-ups for the fans to watch in this contest, including Pallan versus terrific Wheeling defender David Soto.
Likewise, Wheeling junior Jared Urueta, depolyed up top or on the wing, provided a dymanic test for Barrington defender Connor Delahunt.
The Broncos absorbed plenty of pressure in the first quarter-hour from the Wildcats (11-3-1, 7-1-0), who were in peak form off the opening whistle. It was until the last 7-8 minutes of the first half that Barrington started to gain the upper hand.
The Broncos started the second half just as they'd finished the first period. And in the 43rd minute, Justin Funk, who scored the game-winner against Mundelein on Saturday, found himself in the right place at the right time to finish with a gorgeous touch at the back post.
"I saw that Klaus was going to flick the ball, so I just ran to the post and was ready when the ball fell to me," said the senior, who turned in a strong effort throughout from his midfield post.
The opening goal turned this contest into an all-action track meet for the remaining 37 minutes, with each side getting close on several occasions.
Wheeling drew even at 62 minutes when Jose Mariscal brought the ball down, held off his defender and played an early ball to Urueta, who went the other with his well-aimed attempt.
The goal was a just reward for nearly 15 minutes of dominant soccer by Urueta and Vicente Castro.
"We had a lot of the play in the first 15-20 minutes, and then again after we got back even with them," said Wheeling coach Kevin Lennon. "We certainly played well enough to win, but we just couldn't finish our chances when we had to."
At 66 minutes, Wheeling failed to clear a ball. Pallan kept things alive, and Prabhavalkar found a way to score while on the ground past Brian Arambula.
Later, Blanke used a crafty heel flick to send Prabhavalkar in on Arambula. The junior finish at the end of his lung-bursting run up the left side to make it 3-1 with six minutes remaining.
"It was a typical MSL game between two of the best in the league - physical, end-to-end, and some great defense and chances for both teams," Lennon said. "We just lost our focus on a couple of occasions and it cost us."
The Wildcats face Buffalo Grove this Friday, while the Broncos host Palatine.
"Wheeling is a great team, and could hopefully pull a few points away from our challengers," said Steib. "But the bottom line is we need to continue to earn 3 points when they're out there for us."