Bartlett hangs on to claim first regional title

Bartlett did not let the disappointment of blowing a 3-goal fester in Friday night's Class 3A Larkin girls soccer regional championship.

Senior Fran Abate scored a tiebreaking goal 29 seconds later and third-seed Bartlett (17-7-1) held on to claim its first regional title with a wild 5-4 victory over No. 6 Schaumburg at Elgin's Memorial Field.

"This one's pretty sweet," said Bartlett coach Heather Thomas after she was doused with ice water by senior Rachel Rieger and freshman Jessica Cosentino.

"From the beginning of the season I had a feeling this team would go far," Abate said. "I'm really happy with the players on our team and the work ethic they have. I'm really happy."

Bartlett advanced to its own sectional at Streamwood's Millennium Field and will play in Tuesday's 6:30 p.m. semifinal against No. 2 Conant, a 1-0 winner over Wheaton North.

Making that trip appeared to be a no-brainer when Bartlett bolted to a 3-0 lead 7:17 before halftime. Freshman Haley Videckis scored twice off nice assists by senior midfielder Luisa Desario and Abate fed Lisa Palmer for a goal.

But Schaumburg came right back as junior Sarah Christy and freshman Becky Sneddon alternated roles on goals and assists in a 2:09 span to get within 3-2.

"I think we may have gotten a little complacent with the 3-0 lead," Thomas said.

"When we had the lead I guess we got too comfortable," Abate said. "The halftime talk helped us pick up our work ethic."

But it couldn't prevent Christy and Sneddon from connecting again with Sneddon making a nice 1-on-1 move for the tying goal with 25:34 left.

"I'm proud of the girls when we were down 3-0, they decided not to let their season end that easily," said Schaumburg coach Greg Charvat, whose team also had three breakaway chances clang off posts.

Bartlett responded as Abate broke free in front and found the upper left corner with 25:05 left. Videckis found Jenny Paddack for a 5-3 lead with 13:23 left.

"It was pretty shocking," Abate said of losing the lead. "But I'm really happy we were able to come back and work hard."

Schaumburg got within a goal on Alison Schmalz's chip shot at the far post with 31/2 minutes left. But Bartlett keeper Erin Zaideman also had some big second-half stops in its history-making victory.

"They played their hearts out and realized there was a lot on the line," Thomas said.

"You don't normally see this high-scoring, end-to-end action this time of year," Charvat said. "To score 4 goals and lose is a pretty tough pill to swallow. We played one of our better games of the year tonight and lost."