Furio rallies Broncos in OT

There have been some memorable soccer matches played between Barrington and Fremd since both Scott Steib and Steve Keller were named to coach each side.

Saturday night was no different.

Barrington kept its 2007 record against the rest of the field in the Mid-Suburban League perfect after a hard-fought 2-1 victory in overtime.

Francesco Furio had 2 spectacular goals -- the second coming in the 96th minute to send a partisan Broncos' crowd home happy on a humid night in Barrington.

"Some of our toughest, most competitive matches in the MSL in recent years have come against Steve's club," Steib said, "and even though tonight there wasn't anything at stake, Fremd is Fremd, and they just rise up and play us as hard as they can."

Barrington moved to 16-1-0 overall and 10-0-0 in the MSL table with one match to go Tuesday at home against Wheeling.

For long spells the Vikings (7-7-1, 5-3-1) were on their back foot in the first half and had no one to thank but keeper Rich Podjasek, who would help keep his club even with the home-side when intermission arrived.

And more importantly, within striking distance later on when the Vikings' would be in search to equalize.

"We played much better in the second half compared to the first," said Keller. "Richie (Podjasek) helped keep us in the match, as did their guy (Jack Deroche), who between them made several terrific stops on the night."

Podjasek would have no chance on the first Furio strike, which came at 44 minutes off what look like a harmless throw from Matt Beightol initiated at the near touchline.

However, Furio made nothing into something after collecting the Beightol heave as he was allowed to turn before sending a 30-yard missile into the upper right-hand corner of the net.

After looking shaky and indecisive in its attempt to attack up until the Furio blast, the Vikings finally would find the inspiration they would need to awaken them in several well-paced and placed free-kicks from Cory Degrave.

The senior nearly recorded a helper on his first set-piece serve which found teammate Michael Ballschmiede running off a flick. Unfortunately for the Vikings, Deroche read the situation perfectly and the senior keeper saved the Ballschmiede attempt at the spot.

Podjasek was next up as he fully extended to his right to turn away a low drive from Furio at 58 minutes. Then the senior would top that save with another when he somehow was able to stop a sure goal off the foot of Alex Luedtke while on his back.

Keller went with three up top in his quest to draw even and the tactical move would eventually pay off at 70 minutes as the Vikings' hounding continued until Joe Derkits fired a header into the back of the net of yet another piercing Degrave serve.

Both overtime periods were played with classic, direct style, as each side played over the top in hopes of finding a seam in the other's back line or perhaps catching the offside trap lagging.

Podjasek and Deroche each made a brilliant save in the second 10-minute period. But Podjasek would be unable to cut down Furio's game-winner as he ran onto a terrific ball sent through up the right side from Ata Ozbay and slotted under the hard-charging Vikings' keeper.

"Maybe I was just lucky to score those 2 goals," Furio said, "and what I really want to talk about is the effort everyone gave to get this win tonight against an opponent that has given our program so much trouble of the years."

"I think an OT win at this time of the year against Fremd is something that really is going to help prepare us for the (MSL) Cup and state tournament," said Beightol.