Broncos roll past Wildcats
The best way to beat Barrington's boys soccer team is to keep them from getting to the spot.
In 21 games played this season, including the playoffs, Barrington has only lost two games. Both of them came on penalty kicks.
There was no danger of that occurring in Saturday's Class AA regional championship at Hersey. The No. 1 seeded Broncos defeated No. 9 Wheeling 4-0 with all of the scoring coming in the first half.
Barrington (19-2) advances to play No. 5 Deerfield in Tuesday's 5 p.m. Lake Zurich sectional semifinal.
"I thought we did a great job," said Barrington coach Scott Steib. "With the wind with them in the second half they almost put one in. At this time of year, the weather is always a factor."
The Broncos opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Matt Beightol scored on an assist from Cameron Reilly.
It became 2-0 when, in the sixth minute, Ryan Mangone put one in with Ata Ozbay getting the assist.
Francesco Furio scored the next 2 goals, the first in the 17th minute. A cross deflected off of a leg and went to Furio, who scored by the near post.
His second goal of the day came in the 23rd minute on a 1-2 pass.
"I hit it nicely and it just went in," said Furio, whose team defeated Wheeling earlier in the season 3-1. "After playing Hersey (Wednesday), this was a totally different game. Hersey would drop back. This was a more normal game. We play our game regardless of who we're playing."
One of the objectives for Barrington was containing Wheeling's speed, which led to the Wildcats putting a lot of pressure on the Broncos in the second half.
"They contained our speed with their own speed, their strength, their physical presence," said Wheeling coach Ed Uhrik. "The second half we had the wind and we held our own. In the second half we changed some things and the boys got confused. They were thinking too much."
"This game was similar to the last time we played them," Steib said. "We have great defensive players. Hopefully we'll continue. I think we have good confidence and good composure."
Deerfield 1, Stevenson 0: Prior to watching his club take on Deerfield on Saturday in a regional soccer final at Buffalo Grove, Stevenson coach Mark Schartner said that any team in this sectional was capable of beating another in what he believed was perhaps the toughest field in the area.
Unfortunately for the fourth-seeded Patriots, Schartner would prove to be correct.
Deerfield's Hooman Shams thumped a header past diving keeper Ian Soos in the 113th minute as the Warriors edged Stevenson 1-0.
With that dramatic finish, No. 5 Deerfield (14-5-4) booked its place in the Lake Zurich sectional against No. 1 Barrington on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
-- Mike Garofola