Rodriguez brothers, Lundgren help EG top Barrington
Too much Ernesto and Cesar Rodriguez and Leif Lundgren did in the home side in a 3-0 victory by Elk Grove on Saturday afternoon before a homecoming crowd at Barrington.
Ernesto Rodriguez put the visiting Grens (7-6-1, 4-4-1) ahead for good to cap a dominating half-hour of play, then concentated on defending while giving the Broncos little space in its their own. Barrington dropped its third straight, all by shutouts.
"This might have been our best overall match of the season," said Lundgren, who in the early stages was one of the main culprits in breaking apart the Broncos' defense with some well-paced and meaningful through balls when he withdrew from his spot up top. "It's always nice to beat a program like Barrington, and hopefully this type of effort and win will hopefully provide the momentum we need from here on out."
Lundgren looked to be in a great spot to find the back of the net when his center channel run was met by a superb ball from the right side from Ernesto Rodriguez, but the Grens captain' touch betrayed him in close and his shot sprayed wide.
But the sequence signaled several impressive runs forward from the visitors, which led to the Rodriguez goal at 27 minutes with teammate Jon Pachar getting the assist.
Moments after, Barrington keeper Will Cotopolis raced off his line to save another goal when he turned away Cesar Rodriguez, who'd been sent through by Lundgren.
The Broncos (4-12-1, 3-5-0) were up and running after intermission and appeared to steal away the run of play with Taylor Williams having a go with a low hard drive which, for a moment, handcuffed Grens keeper Mike Monegato. But the Broncos' 10-minute spurt ended shortly after when Lundgren found Cesar Rodriguez running from the right side with a free kick serve from 25 yards.
"We're having issues on both sides of the ball right now, and although we lost back-to-back matches against very good sides (Palatine and Prospect) this week, we look like we need a couple of days to recharge our battery before we play another game," said Barrington coach Scott Steib.
Grens coach Joe Bush, meanwhile, was thrilled with the way his team defended.
"The guys in the back were terrific today, and for that part, so were our people in the middle who came back to defend to make it tough for Barrington to get (its) attack going," said Bush.
Rafal Borys, Matt and Mike Ginter, Daiki Abe and Trevor Cwiok deserve high grades for their collective work in discouraging the Broncos as they searched to cut the lead into the 2-goal lead as late as 70 minutes before Ernesto Rodriguez dashed the hopes of a comeback before a big homecoming crowd with his second strike of the day with a nifty touch to elude on-rushing Broncos keeper Jacob Dreiling.