Lake Zurich bounces back, shuts down Marmion
Lake Zurich (2-1-0) rebounded from its disappointing tournament opener at Barrington to defeat Marmion 2-0 Wednesday afternoon as day No. 2 of the 21st annual Barrington Classic rolled on.
The Bears, who were roughed up by Wheaton Warrenville South 5-1 on Tuesday, appeared to have erased the memory of their loss with a rampant start against a young and inexperienced Cadets (1-2-0) side by striking early with a goal by Nick Janus at 13 minutes - which would hold up the rest of the way.
"It was a terrible night last night (against) Wheaton," said the affable Marquette-bound Eric Pothast, who would later add an insurance goal in the 74th minute. "But today we came out strong, and were all over (Marmion) from the start and kept the pressure on them for most of the first half in their end."
It was too much Janus and Tim Kreutz in the first quarter hour for the Cadets who had little answer to the Bears duo upfront, and try as they might, Kevin O'Connor's team was unable to slow both Janus and Kreutz, as well as Pothast and his mates in the middle had a full head of steam going forward.
"We had plenty of problems right from the beginning along the back, and could have likely given up another goal or two along the way," said O'Connor. "But somehow we prevailed and we kept them off the board after their first goal and we stayed in the match hoping to get even and turn the match around."
A courageous Evan Lefelstein helped keep the Cadets in the match when the Bears took turns firing and the junior keeper did his best on nearly every attempt in close to save.
However, he had no chance on the Janus goal in which Brett Harper set up from a corner at the near post.
O'Connor withdrew Sam Duffield to the middle of the park with the hope the big forward would help the Cadets attack possess more and possibly link-up with Max Rosenfelder and others up top, but except for a few good exchanges, the club struggled to break through the Bears back line and in on keeper Tyler Raineri.
"We played a little too direct and we became too predictable," said Rosenfelder. "When we played wide we created more space, but we didn't have a lot of success doing so and we made it too easy for Lake Zurich to defend."
The Cadets slowed the Bears in the second half with an aggressive trap which led to a half-dozen offside flags raised by the assistant referee, but it didn't stop Pothast who collected a poorly hit clearing attempt on the left side before finding the far inside netting.
"We're still sorting things out, and its early enough in the season for us to figure things out and still be OK for the rest of the season," Pothast added.