Reilly, Broncos strike back in OT

Lightning struck twice Wednesday during Barrington's Class AA regional soccer semifinal matchup with host Hersey.

Fortunately for Barrington it wasn't proverbial lightning as it used an overtime goal from senior Cameron Reilly to win 1-0 and avenge last week's Mid-Suburban League Cup loss to the Huskies.

"I'd much rather win a playoff game than the game we lost," Barrington coach Scott Steib said. "It worked out well for us to lose last week because our guys were probably a little bit more focused than we would have been had we ended up winning that game."

And the two lightning breaks didn't hurt either.

Despite dominating the time of possession for the first 70 minutes of the game, the Broncos (18-2) were unable to find the back of the net.

And just when it looked like the frustration from being held scoreless and the exhaustion of a short rotation could possibly lead to Barrington's undoing, lightning caused two consecutive 30- minute breaks in the action.

"That gave us quite a bit of time to rest and to get the composure of the game back," Steib admitted. "I think that wasn't a bad thing. I still think we were going to win the game. Don't get me wrong, I was nervous. It takes one missed clearance (to lose)."

And that's all it did take to end this game.

Maintaining control on the offensive end, the Broncos took advantage of the slippery field as Reilly slipped past the defense on a missed clearance and kicked the ball past a diving Shane McGuinness in the first minute of overtime.

"It was a great ball by (junior midfielder) Frank (Ingraffia) and luckily it got over their last defender and I got my foot on it," Reilly said. "We played well all game, we just couldn't finish."

Whether a lack of execution or a dominant performance from McGuinness kept the Broncos off the board through regulation is a matter of perspective.

But once again, the Hersey keeper came up huge when it mattered most, blocking a penalty kick in the 57th minute of the game that kept the game scoreless.

"Shane is the master of the PK," Hersey coach Darren Llewellyn said.

The Broncos victory keeps their playoff run alive in Saturday's 1 p.m. championship while Hersey's loss ends its improbable run.

Despite starting the season 1-6, the Huskies won 9 of their final 15 games en route to an MSL title. No player came up bigger during that stretch then McGuinness.

"He's a big-game goalie," Llewellyn said.