Girls soccer: Barrington meets Elk Grove's challenge
Barrington's girls soccer team asserted itself, using goals from Ashley Prell and Jen Devona, to give the defending conference champions a 2-0 win over a determined Elk Grove team in the 29th MSL Soccer Bowl.
The Fillies' victory Wednesday night at Barrington Community Stadium gave coach Ryan Stengren's program an unprecedented seventh consecutive league title, and the fourth in a fow for senior Samantha Schmitz. It was her second straight shutout in the league title matchup.
"We came into tonight ready to play and having a lot of respect for Elk Grove, and they showed they belonged here with a great first half of play," said Schmitz, who earned her 10th shutout of the season.
"It was a hard-fought game, and one in which (Elk Grove) enjoyed most of the play in the first half," Stengren said. "But I felt we got ourselves back into the game after (Ashley) Prell's goal, which helped us play more like we can in the second half."
There was little doubt there was purpose in the minds of the Grens (10-5-2) and first-year coach Dean Burrier Sanchis, who had his club ramped up from the opening whistle. Elk Grove had the Fillies (14-3-2) on their back foot, and kept them in that mode through almost the entire first half.
"There was talk of this being a 4- or 5-goal win by Barrington, but the effort of our team was tremendous, beginning with Emma Slattery, Zoe Blomquist, Alexa Joshi, and right on down the list of the players on our roster," said Burrier Sanchis.
Blomquist in particular was magnificent at midfield for the Grens, winning well over 90 percent of what came her way while also giving quality distribution from her place in the Grens' formation.
"We felt that a lot of people thought we were going to lose badly tonight, so we used that to come out and play as best as we could - and that first half was perhaps our best 40 minutes of soccer this season," said Blomquist.
While the Grens were unable to create dangerous chances at Schmitz, their work rate and pace that helped keep the Fillies defending far more than they'd have preferred.
Prell scored her team-leading 16th goal of the season when the junior squeezed in a left-footed blast from 24 yards with an accurate touch.
Barrington began the second half much more sharply, with Prell providing the helper on the Fillies' second goal when freshman Jen Devona cut in from the back post to meet Prell's cross from the far flag.
Elk Grove did not fade away after the 54th-minute goal. The Grens generated a handful of free kicks for Slattery, who seemed to always place a quality ball inside the box, regardless of the distance or area from which she struck the ball.
The Grens were fortunate when Prell found the bar after breaking free in the 59th minute, forcing Slattery to clear from the area.
"Our start tonight wasn't very good," said Prell, "but we ended strong to keep our streak of conference championships going."