Boys lacrosse: South Elgin downs Barrington for sectional crown

Whatever South Elgin boys lacrosse coach Dylan Butler said to his team at halftime sure did work.

The motivated Storm responded by outscoring Barrington 9-0 during the second 24 minutes of the game and thumped the Broncos 14-3 in the Huntley sectional final Friday night.

The undefeated Storm (13-0) will play the winner of the Batavia sectional match between Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South in Tuesday's Hoffman Estates supersectional at 7:30 p.m. A win by South Elgin and the Storm will advance to the first IHSA state tournament next weekend at Hinsdale Central High School.

"We told the kids at halftime to simply have fun and play loose," said Butler. "We were playing a little tight in the first half even though we had a 2-goal lead. We practice and play better when we are having fun. We kept it simple and really locked in it in and throttled it up in the second half. We did a better job with our isolation offense and spread out Barrington's defense. In the tournament, it is survive and advance."

Nursing a slim 5-3 lead at intermission, the Storm seized control of the game by scoring 3 goals during a 2-minute span early in the third period.

Jaron Wells scored 2 of his 6 goals and Joey Cipriani tallied a goal as the Storm led 8-3 with 7:32 left in the third period.

"Coach told us to pick it up in the second half at both the offensive and defensive ends and have some fun and play loose," said Wells. "He told me to keep shooting. It is a great feeling to win the sectional."

Wells, who also had 2 assists, scored his third goal of the third period to give the Storm a 9-3 advantage after 36 minutes.

"Jaron is a scorer and we want him to be aggressive and shoot the ball on net," said Butler. "He was in midseason form tonight."

Cipriani added 3 goals and 2 assists while Jake Sietmann, Heyden Feil, Cade Newton, Griffin Carey and Travis Tranchitella each tallied a goal for the winners. Alex Noworol, Kyle Pollert, Sietmann and Cade Newton each picked up assists for South Elgin, which out shot Barrington 35-22

Storm goalkeeper Ryan Gartner excelled in the net with 19 saves.

The Broncos, who led 2-1 after one quarter, got goals from Ethan Beyrer, Kevin Keck and Mark Danelz. Kris Casey assisted on Keck's goals.

Barrington goalie Aidan Sadler registered 19 saves while Will Moston collected 2 saves.

"South Elgin did a great job and played very well," said Barrington coach Jason Kaiser. "I am proud of the kids. They played very hard."