Barrington edges C-G; Hersey survives Glenbrook S.

Last season Barrington needed 4 overtime victories in eight of its postseason wins en route to its first boys soccer state title.

The Broncos were at it again in their Class 3A regional opener Tuesday night.

Barrington jumped out to a 3-goal lead two minutes into the second half on senior forward Ata Ozbay's hat trick.

But with 15 minutes remaining in regulation, Cary-Grove hit the Broncos with a 3-goal flourish, capped by Nick McDonald's score with 10:46 remaining to tie the match at 3-3.

But Ozbay's header off a free kick by Ryan Mangone with six seconds remaining in the second overtime lifted the second-seeded Broncos (18-5) to a 4-3 victory at Barrington Community Stadium.

Barrington advances to play top-seed Lake Zurich (18-1-3), a 4-0 winner over Dundee-Crown, at 11 a.m. Saturday for the regional title.

"It's hard to imagine there are too many guys better than him," said Barrington coach Scott Stieb of Ozbay, who has 25 goals for the season. "He's a special kid and he really carried us tonight."

Ozbay ran behind a Barrington wall and headed the free kick between the near post and Cary-Grove's John Oberlies to give the Broncos the game-winner.

"We pretty much said it was a race to three and kind of had a letdown after that," said Ozbay of the Broncos' quick start. "It could have gone either way after that. It was a good ball, I saw that it was going to get over the defender - I knew I had to put it on goal."

Ozbay scored his first goal off an assist by Tim Rudnicki with a little more than 24 minutes remaining in the first half. The senior forward then added an unassisted goal seven minutes later.

Ozbay's goal off a free kick with 38:02 remaining in the second half gave Barrington a seemingly safe 3-0 lead.

But Cary-Grove (14-2-1) showed its resiliency, starting with Phil Hanson goal off a penalty kick with 15:17 remaining in regulation.

- Michael Eaken

Hersey 1, Glenbrook South 0: Playing short-handed and without its starting goalie proved to be no problem for the Hersey boys soccer team in Tuesday's 1-0 win over Glenbrook South in the Class 3A regional semifinal.

The ninth-seeded Huskies (12-5-3) endured 4 overtimes with only 10 men on the field and welcomed the chance for a penalty kick shootout after regulation ended with no score.

Hersey goalkeeper Martin Diaz turned away 2 shots and the his teammates never missed, winning the shootout 4-2.

The victory earns Hersey a date with top-seeded Waukegan in Saturday's 2 p.m. regional championship match.

Starting goalie Greg Janicki was given a red card less than four minutes into the second half for pushing a Glenbrook South forward. That meant Diaz, a junior who had yet to play a game with the varsity team this season, had to take over in the net.

"That's what I've been practicing with the team all season for," Diaz said. "I hate to go in a situation like that after Greg got a red card because he's a really good friend of mine. But I had no choice and I stepped in and did what I could."

Hersey coach Darren Llewellyn was pleasantly surprised by Diaz's all-star performance.

"That's my JV goalie," Llewellyn said of Diaz. "This is his first varsity game. Are you kidding me? Come into a game like this and just say, 'Coach, I got you man.' More power to him."

- David Just

Schaumburg 2, W. Chicago 1: Success in the playoffs necessitates not only stopping a team during live-action play, but also from preventing goals on dead-ball situations.

Although Schaumburg team failed to register a goal during live play, a pair of dead-ball goals from senior forward Josh Beard lifted the Saxons to a 2-1 victory over West Chicago on Tuesday night in the Class 3A Lake Park regional.

Beard's goals came after the third-seeded Saxons (16-7) fell behind 1-0 on Luis Ortega's goal for West Chicago (13-8-1) in the 48th minute. They'll play in Friday's 6 p.m. regional final at Lake Park's East campus against the No. 6 Lancers (14-5-5), who beat St. Charles East 2-1 in overtime.

According to Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreioskouei, Beard's elevated play in the clutch should serve as a surprise to no one.

"You can put him wherever you want," Mehreioskouei said. "When I put him on top he scores for me, and when I put him in the back he shuts guys down."

Beard's first goal came on a free kick - a situation he feels particularly comfortable in.

"Free kicks are kind of my specialty, and I like to hit it under the wall," Beard said. "The guys were kind of spread apart, and they couldn't hold the wall, so I hit it, the guys broke apart, and it went right through."

The game-winner came in the 71st minute, when Beard capitalized on a Saxons throw-in that eventually bumped Schaumburg into the next round.

"On our long throws, it wasn't working out for us, so I decided to check," he said. "I got the ball, felt the guy on my right side, and just spun him off and hit it."

- Matthew McClarey

Wheeling 2, Mundelein 1: The sixth-seeded Wildcats (15-6-2) got first-half goals from Joel Del Toro and Sanjit Shah and assists from Del Toro and Trevor Rubin in the Mundelein 3A regional semifinal.

"We just played the game that we normally play," Wheeling coach Ed Uhrik said. "We've got an attack-minded team."

Wheeling will play for the title at 1 p.m. Saturday against No. 15 Carmel (11-11-3), which stunned third-seed Stevenson 1-0 in triple overtime on Ian Tune's goal.

"Obviously that doesn't mean anything," Uhrik said of a mid-September win over Carmel. "They knocked off the No. 3 seed and looked solid. Defensively they looked very solid."

So did Wheeling as Ricardo Ballesteros had 4 saves and No. 12 Mundelein (9-9-5) scored its only goal with 15 seconds left.

Geneva 3, Elk Grove 0: Geneva didn't pump any upset-minded life to Elk Grove in Tuesday's Class 3A boys soccer regional semifinal.

As a result the second-seeded Vikings were able to breathe a little easier as Seamus Kaminski and Shawn Sloan scored in the first 11 minutes. Robbie Johnson added another 15:51 before halftime and they were on the way to a 3-0 victory over the 16th-seeded host Grenadiers.

Ryan Ward stopped 4 shots as Geneva (18-2-1) got its 10th shutout and won its ninth straight. It will play No. 10 Glenbard West, a 3-2 winner over York in triple overtimes, in Saturday's 2 p.m. regional final at Elk Grove.

Sloan's right side run and Benjamin Orr's feed set up Kaminski's 11th goal and the only one Geneva needed 3:56 into the match.

Senior Andy Larson had 10 saves for the Grenadiers (8-10-1). They hope to be even more dangerous next year with four sophomore starters and another seeing significant time from a team that started 0-6.

"We didn't have much energy in the beginning," said Grens coach Joe Bush. "We were a little bit flat and kind of shell-shocked.

"(Geneva is) top-quality. They'll be hard-pressed to find somebody who can beat them."

- Marty Maciaszek

Larkin 3, Hoffman Estates 0: Michael Berquin's previously injured shoulder has been giving him some trouble in the recent cold weather, so he's not played recently for Larkin.

But Berquin scored a pair of goals on Tuesday, which does plenty to help keep anyone warm. Larkin advanced with nice, toasty 3-0 victory over Hoffman Estates in its opening game of the St. Charles North Class 3A regional.

Larkin (20-1) led 2-0 at halftime. Hoffman (8-15) had its chances, especially an early chance from Brad Powszak. But a reshaped defense struggled against Larkin's attack. Two Hawks starters did not play Tuesday, including sweeper Mike Mertel, whose injured ankle gave way again in warm-ups.

"I'm not going to take anything away from (Larkin), because they're really good," Hoffman coach Matt Sriver said. "And the two they have up top are really special. I don't want to make excuses. But our defense has been the strongest part of our team all year."

- Darryl Mellema

Maine West 5, Mather 1: Carlos Trejo's hat trick in the Loyola regional semifinal pushed the seventh-seeded Warriors into Saturday's 2 p.m. regional final against the second-seeded hosts.