Hersey, Barrington battle hard to 1-1 draw

Playing on a sloppy field, under overcast skies that produced some drizzle and with strong winds to battle against, Barrington and Hersey played to a hard-fought 1-1 tie Saturday in girls soccer action at Hersey.

"It was a heck of a game from both sides," Hersey coach Brad Abel said. "Both sides definitely brought it. This is what it's all about in the Mid Suburban League. They've (Barrington) got a nice team, well coached."

Hersey (8-4-2, 5-1-1) opened the scoring when senior defender Kristen Gierman found sophomore defender Eileen Zydek off a corner kick about 16 minutes into the first half.

"They're very good on corner kicks and we talked about marking up," Barrington coach Ryan Stengren said. "That put us in the hole early."

Gierman said she has been working on kicking the ball differently on corner kicks lately.

"We kind of worked on me driving it across the box instead of floating it in the air," Gierman said. "And Eileen Zydek is good on the back post as long as she seals it. So I just looked for her on the back post."

Abel said last year corner kicks were the Huskies' "bread and butter," and this year the team is starting to come around on converting them.

"I like the fact that we're able to create corner kicks, able to turn the corner," Abel said.

Barrington sophomore forward Emily Hyde's goal was able to tie the score in the second half off a feed from Emmelie Hirdes.

"Once we were down we started sending people forward and playing a more direct style," Stengren said.

"Emmelie Hirdes played in a really good ball and we've been working on movement a lot. So I just moved across the line, because we have to win the battles in the box, and I wound up winning it that time," Hyde said.

Each side had some great opportunities to break the tie in overtime.

First, Hersey's Andrea Perkins had a chance on a header off a corner kick by Gierman, but it went wide of the net. Then, Hersey sophomore Maeva Waterman hit the crossbar on a shot. Finally, Hyde had a great chance for Barrington (9-2-2, 5-1-1) from inside the goalie box that was saved by Hersey's Julia Fredian.

"I thought it was a good preparation for the playoffs today," Stengren said. "We talked about any play at any part of the game can be the difference in the playoffs. We had our chances. Hersey plays hard, so it was a good game."

Meadows Invitational: Rolling Meadows (8-4-2) and Wheeling won matches to improve to 2-0 in the tourney but their title match was postponed by inclement weather. The makeup date has yet to be determined.

Meadows beat Maine West 4-1 as it scored all of its goals in the first half. Annie Lynch and Alex Partipilo had unassisted goals, Casey Ryan converted a Maddie Conlin assist and Taylor Fritz scored her ninth goal off Adriana Kondilis' assist.

Cara Franke scored for Maine West, which beat Fenton 2-0 in a rain-shortened earlier match. Wheeling beat Fenton 8-0.

Rockford Boylan invite: Conant (9-1-1) beat Rockton Hononegah 5-0 and took a scoreless match from host Boylan with an 8-7 edge in penalty kicks.

Emma Loos converted the decisive penalty kick against Boylan. Lauren Jason scored twice against Hononegah.

Leyden 2, Riverside-Brookfield 0: Lucero Aguilar scored 2 goals and Hilda Diaz had 13 saves for Leyden (3-5-2) in the nonconference win.