Barrington's best get the job done
The tried and the tested delivered for Barrington on Monday night in Lisle.
Tight defense and swift attacking brought goals for Ata Ozbay, Ryan Noland and all-state striker Francesco Furio, and with them a place in the Class AA boys soccer state tournament as the Broncos defeated Libertyville 3-0 at the Benedictine University supersectional.
Next up for the Broncos (22-2-0) is Granite City supersectional champ Collinsville at 4 p.m. Friday at North Central College in Naperville.
"At the start of every season I always tell my team(s) that I am planning on going to the state tournament, and are they going to join me," said Barrington coach Scott Steib.
"Well, it looks like they are going to be there with me -- and we're going there to play, not watch. It's just incredible."
"We're in the last eight," said Broncos senior midfielder Cameron Reilly, who along with his mates slowly began to gather possession in the middle of the park to help take control of a match.
Libertyville (14-6-0) opened brightly enough to get the eventual state qualifiers out of synch during the first quarter hour.
"I really thought for the first 15-20 minutes we had the better run of play, but only up to the 18 because after that we just weren't sharp enough in our attack to put any pressure or quality chances on (Barrington's) keeper," said Libertyville coach Andy Bitta.
The pace of the Wildcats' front men, Alvaro Castro and Brad Novak, was immediately obvious and appeared to bother Barrington's back line. At the other end, the Cats' defense, with Andrew Stone hounding Furio continually, shook up the Broncos' attack.
"(Libertyville) came out and played really hard and it took us awhile to settle down and play the way we wanted to," said Broncos sweeper Brian Bernal.
Still, the Broncos were able to find the back of the net first.
Jack Valentine launched a crossfield pass from the right touch line which found an unmarked Ozbay at the far post, and the junior's first touch broke the ball down to his boot, and he fired in a 12-yard low drive past Cats keeper Jim Palac at 32 minutes.
"What a great first touch from Ata, wasn't it?" asked Steib.
The goal awoke a sleeping giant and as the half winded down. The chances started to dry up for the Wildcats while the Broncos' attack gained energy right up until intermission -- and after.
"We made some adjustments at half, and began very well," Bitta said. "But Barrington is a very good club and it became harder for us to do anything when they had us on our heels almost that entire second half."
Ryan Mangone looked to have put the Broncos up 2-0 at 46 minutes on a great individual effort, but the center referee waived off his strike. After that, it was one-way traffic toward the Wildcats' goal. In the 58th minute, Nolan supplied his strike to make it 2-0 when he finished off a superb 1-2 combination with Ozbay.
About three minutes later, Furio (22 goals this season) powered a redirected header off a serve near the spot by Bernal into the back of the net to give the Broncos a 3-goal lead.
"We still have a lot of soccer ahead of us to be played," said Furio.
"This team has really made its mark so far this year by reaching 22 wins and advancing into the state tournament," Steib said. "They are a special group of kids."
Rockford Boylan 2, Schaumburg 1 (2 OT):ŒDEKALB -- There was no mystery to the magical postseason tour by Schaumburg's boys soccer team.
And it appeared the Saxons' magic beyond regulation time would continue in Monday night's Class AA supersectional at Northern Illinois University's Huskie Stadium.
But a potentially golden goal a little more than a minute into the second overtime was disallowed. Nearly eight minutes later the Saxons (16-6-1) were on the shocking end of a 2-1 loss on a goal by Rockford Boylan (23-3) reserve Travis Haug..
''We had the ball bounce a lot of our way, but it decided to bounce the other way this game,'' said Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreioskouei of his team winning its first four playoff games in overtimes or penalty kicks.
''We were used to it and thought we had it,'' Schaumburg senior midfielder James Rion said of going beyond the regulation 80 minutes again. ''It was just another walk in the park for us. Not this time.''
It appeared the Saxons had it at the start of the second overtime. Josh Beard sent a long ball that Wesley Hollis won from three defenders and eventually resulted in a Boylan yellow card.
Beard sent a perfect serve from 27 yards on the left side that sophomore midfielder Erhan Caglayan headed into the right side of the net with 8:58 left. But the official called Caglayan for a push and disallowed the goal.
''I didn't see anything,'' Rion said. ''I thought we were ready to hold that trophy high.''
Instead, Boylan qualified for the Elite Eight for the seventh time since 1997and will play in Friday's 11 a.m. state quarterfinal at North Central College in Naperville against Lemont, a 2-0 winner over Minooka.
''That's the thing about overtime --it shows you no mercy,'' Mehreioskouei said. ''One mistake ... that's all it is. The game's over.''
Chris Johnson started the decisive play with a right-sideline run and feed to Andrew Thappa in the corner. Thappa found Haug in the middle in front for a shot senior keeper Jordan Sandberg, who had another fantastic effort, had no chance to stop.
''We've played really well when we've played down the lines,'' Haug said after his fourth goal of the season. ''When I saw Andrew get the ball ... my eyes just lit up when he passed it to me.
''It was a perfect ball. Perfect.''
Boylan struck first just 1:05 after intermission when defender Rocco Taglia pounded a low, one-hop shot on a 22-yard free kick from the right side past Sandberg to the left corner.
But the Saxons answered with 28:10 left when Hollis sent a beautiful cross from the left backline to the far post for Caglayan's header.
''I thought we were the better team the whole game,'' Rion said.
''If there's one thing I learned about the 18 boys I have,'' Mehreioskouei said, ''is their heart is unbelievable.''
Although those hearts were broken in the second overtime, they'll also be warmed by the memories of a groundbreaking run to the program's first sectional title.
''That alone is a great accomplishment,'' Rion said. ''We all know we could have gone farther and done well in state.
''I'm sorry to see it end short.''
-- Marty Maciaszek