Barrington blanks Marmion

Barrington's mission to return to the championship match of its own tournament is on course after the Broncos beat Marmion 6-0 Tuesday evening in second-round play of the Barrington Classic.

Senior Francesco Furio was the star of the match for the home side as he struck for the a natural hat trick, giving him 4 on the season and 31 for his career to move him into sixth place on the all-time scoring list in boys soccer.

"It was kind of an ideal situation for me tonight," said Furio, who was able to use his speed and brawn to beat the Cadets (1-2-0) offsides trap on his first 2 goals of the evening.

"I thought (Marmion) would drop a player back as a sweeper to give their defense a little depth after we came close to a couple of breakaways early in the match. But (us) being able to break out and scoring as much as we did can help give us some confidence heading into a real tough match tomorrow night."

The Broncos (2-0) will meet state power Wheaton Warrenville South at 7 p.m. with a spot in the championship match Saturday night at stake.

A young Cadets side adapted well to the Broncos' early pressure and direct style, and, in fact, had the better run of play in the early stages by playing attractive soccer through its midfield and with quick, pinpoint touches to get all involved on the pitch.

Coach Kevin O'Connor's team was most dangerous when the likes of Pablo Del Toro, Armando Hermosillo, Ralph Pameri, Sam Van Dyck and Beto Del Toro were on the ball. But when Ryan Mangone found the back of the net just under the woodwork to give the Broncos' the lead, the wheels began to fall off for the Cadets.

"We had shown right from the beginning we were capable of being dangerous in (their) end with some terrific attacking," said O'Connor.

"Unfortunately we gave up a tough early goal, and we just didn't match (up) well physically with Barrington and they were able to finish on a couple of their breakaways."