Palatine tightens up East race; Broncos clinch

On the brink of booking its fourth straight MSL Cup appearance, East Division-leading Hersey took a detour Monday night when it dropped a 1-0 match to visiting Palatine.

Senior Kyle O'Meara put the Pirates (11-4-0, 8-2-0) ahead at 68 minutes, and Palatine then held off a valiant effort by the Huskies (9-5-3, 7-3-0), A victory for Hersey would have clinched its spot in next week's MSL Cup.

"It was a game of chances, almost too many for us (tonight) and we just didn't finish any of them," said Hersey coach Darrren Llewellyn.

The Huskies travel to Hoffman Estates on Wednesday afternoon, where a win in its regular-season finale would put an end to Wheeling's divisional titles hopes. The Wildcats defeated Hoffman Estates 1-0 Monday.

Both sides had only a few moments of glory in the first 40 minutes of play as opportunities were few for long throw-in specialists Willie Filian of Palatine and Ryan Fox of Hersey.

Fox nearly caught up to a terrific crossfield serve from teammate Eddie Rodriguez at the back post just a few minutes before Filian targeted Todd Leitgeb, whose one-timer forced Hersey keeper Shane McGuinness to save.

"Our m.o. of late has been playing kind of ugly soccer, but in a match like this we knew that we would have to grind it out in order to survive and give ourselves a chance to win," said Palatine coach Willie Filian.

For short spells after intermission, the visitors gained the run of play with some hard-running and gritty tackling to win most first and second balls in the middle.

Josh Clark, Kosta Ristecki, Jose Quintero and Filian took turns making an imprint in the Pirates' push forward, and each connected with Matt Marturano and Glenn Arnold frequently enough to keep the vaunted Huskies backline on edge.

"We came into tonight's match knowing that Hersey has a terrific defense, and to try to attack its midfield and not get lost in the counter, because (they) are so dangerous with it," Clark said. "Kyle just hit a great shot for us, and it was fun to beat one of the best teams in the league."

O'Meara unloaded a left-footed cracker, which appeared to dip near the end of its flight before going past McGuinness and into the right side of net.

The goal put a little more urgency in the Huskies' attack and almost immediately the pressure fell on the Pirates keeper Kyle Held and his back-line mates to tighten things up in anticipation of top scorer Alex Gardasevic making something happen.

A driving long-punt off the boot of McGuinness found Gardasevic, who quicky went to Mike Ozga down the left side - but the junior was unable to get a good enough touch to challenge Held.

In the final seven minutes of regulation, the Huskies had no less than 5 long throws deep inside the Pirates' end, but a confident Held pulled everything out of the air flawlessly, including a Kyle Pietro free kick on which Mike Madsen and Nick Morreale gave a spirited physical challenge against Held.

"We're not disappointed in the effort the boys gave tonight, but the loss puts a little more meaning on our match with Hoffman," said Llewellyn.

Barrington 3, Buffalo Grove 1: After a scoreless first half, defending state champion Barrington asserted itself and prevailed at BG to clinch a repeat Mid-Suburban West title.

It's the fourth Mid-Suburban divisional title in 35 years for the Broncos, who improved to 16-3 overall and 9-1 in the West.

Will Farrell, Tim Rudnicki and Ryan Mangone scored for Barrington, which hosts Wheeling in its final regular-season MSL game on Wednesday.

Elk Grove 2, Rolling Meadows 1: Cesar Rodriguez had both goals for Elk Grove, including the game-winner late in the second half as the host Grenadiers (6-8-1, 4-5-1) edged Rolling Meadows in an MSL East contest.

Rodriguez's 2nd goal was assisted by Leif Lundgren; the first goal, which came in the first half, was assisted by Ernesto Rodriguez.

Paul Zielinski had an unassisted first-half goal for Rolling Meadows (2-12-1, 0-8-2).

Maine West 3, Fenton 0: David Puka scored twice, once unassisted and once with a helper from Jason Leseth, to help the Warriors to a victory in Lake Park tournament play. Carlos Trejo also had a goal, his fourth of the season, with an assist from Angel Herrera.