Girls soccer: Barnes' bracing effort helps Carmel past Mundelein
Zenaya Barnes was coming off an injured knee which required surgery last year.
The Corsairs junior decided to take her knee brace off several games ago, evidence that she's getting stronger and picking up more confidence.
More evidence: Barnes has produced 14 goals and 6 assists for the Corsairs this season.
"Once I got rid of my brace, I think that was what was holding me back," Barnes said. "I was too scared to let go of it. I wanted to be back to where I was before. Now that I don't have it, I feel more confident in myself."
Barnes scored a hat trick in the first half in leading fourth-seeded Carmel Catholic past No. 5 Mundelein 4-2 in the Class 3A regional final at Mundelein on Friday.
Carmel (14-4-1) next meets No. 8 Palatine (10-10-3) in the Libertyville sectional semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The Pirates got past top-seeded Lake Zurich 2-1 in the Warren regional final on Friday night.
"Just our whole team effort in the first half, they came ready to play," Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. "They did their job and got their chances. (Mundelein) gave us some nerves and never quit. They played to the final whistle. Ernie (Billittier) deserves a lot of credit, he does a really nice job. Getting a team into a position that they believe in themselves, all the way to the end. It's nice to play competition where their hearts are in it, too."
Barnes scored the opening Corsairs goal. Liz Galla headed the ball over to Barnes, who finished the chance in the 14th minute off a corner kick.
"Honestly, the first goal stands out because it sets the tone for how we were going to play," Barnes added. "At the beginning of the game, we came out like we were ready and that first goal really showed it."
A couple minutes later, Barnes struck again off a pass from Olivia Salvi, curling ths one into the top corner for a 2-0 advantage.
Mundelein (11-6-3) had cut the lead in half 2-1 in the 28th minute when Kate Hay scored on a rebound.
Barnes added her third goal in the 33rd minute by finishing a loose ball in front of the goal for a 3-1 Corsairs lead.
Kathleen Graham made it 4-1 in the 61st minute after taking a pass from Emma Heinrich.
The Mustangs scored in the 64th minute to trim the lead to 4-2 as Myah Strokosch found the back of the net after a pass from Gigi Sahagun.
"I thought we had a real slow first 25 minutes, which set the tone for the rest of the game," Billittier said. "I thought the girls did a nice job to get a goal off a dead ball to make it 2-1. Then (Carmel) got the third one, and that was the back-breaker.
Mundelein had a great run this season in earning an outright North Suburban Conference championship.
"It does sting right now, but I'm proud of my seniors and my girls," Billittier said. "We'll have time to reflect later."