Baronti nets late pair to keep BG's title hopes alive
Tuesday's 9-4 defeat at Wheeling left Buffalo Grove with 2 conference losses.
Not an ideal position for a Bison run at a Mid-Suburban League East title.
The 2-goal first-quarter deficit BG faced against Hersey on Thursday wasn't an enviable position either.
But 2 goals from senior Bill Baronti in the final 1:30 kept the Bison's division title hopes alive as they defeated the Huskies 6-5 at Olympic Pool in Arlington Heights.
"We came into the game without as much intensity because we've heard different things about Hersey and came in thinking, 'We're going to win this game,' " said Baronti, who scored the game-winner off a Matt Cooney rebound with 57 seconds left. "But we realized at the end of the game that we had to play tough in order to beat this team."
Hersey looked anything but a squad that had lost nine of its first 11 matches.
Senior Tony Ponzo assisted on a score from Matt Adams, and sophomore John Poelking ripped a 7-meter shot past BG goalie Tom Galla as the Huskies (1-10-1, 1-4) grabbed a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the match.
"It was one of our best games, we had a lot of great motion on offense," said Poelking, who added his second goal with three seconds left in the first half.
Buffalo Grove (5-6, 3-2) rallied with 4 unanswered goals as Baronti, seniors Jeff Grossich and Ryan Higgins and junior Kevin Reilly each got a shot past Hersey goalie Pat Chamberlain.
But following Reilly's goal with 3:09 left in the first half, the Huskies' defense shut down the Bison for nearly 16 minutes.
"Defensively for the season we've been doing a good job," said Hersey coach Jeff Baker, whose team hosts Schaumburg on Tuesday. "If you can keep a team under 10 goals, you stand a chance to win."
While Ponzo scored a pair of third-quarter goals -- a 5-meter backhand flip and a rocket from 7 meters that gave the Huskies a 5-4 advantage -- Chamberlain (16 saves) was continuing his acrobatics in net.
"He's a small guy, but never underestimate a team like this," Baronti said.
After Galla (8 saves) made a potential-game-saving stop against Steve Austin with 3:10 left, Baronti muscled past a Hersey defender and flipped in a game-tying backhander with 1:23 on the clock. Baronti scored 26 seconds later as he set up far post and tucked the rebound from Cooney's shot into the bottom left corner.
"That's where we've struggled, is getting offense when we need offense at the end of a game," said BG coach Scott Kopecky. "We've got our backs up against the wall, we've got to produce."