Barrington asserts itself against Lake Zurich

Barrington is fortunate freshman Molly Pfeiffer wasn't afraid to yell at senior Alexa Rowe on Friday night.

The Fillies, the top seed in their own Class 3A girls soccer regional, and No. 2 Lake Zurich were still scoreless early in overtime and nearly 41/2 hours after their weather-delayed championship match started.

A sudden turn of events off a deflected Lake Zurich free kick found Rowe with the ball on the left side.

"I heard someone yelling," Rowe said.

It was Pfeiffer racing down the middle of the field.

"I was screaming, 'Alexa, get me the ball,'" said Pfeiffer, who had four game-winning goals in the Pepsi Showdown. " 'Alexa, ball. Alexa, ball.' "

Seconds later, the ball was in the back of the net as Lake Zurich keeper Maggie Eisenhuth had no chance on Pfeiffer's high 20-yard blast 3:07 into overtime that gave Barrington (22-2-3) a 1-0 victory.

"We probably had more of the chances today and I thought it was going to come back to haunt us," said Barrington coach Ryan Stengren of watching Lake Zurich line up for a 25-yard free kick.

But the ball shot off the Fillies' defensive wall and they didn't waste this chance to claim their second straight regional title and sixth overall.

"It was really close but I know our defense is really solid," Pfeiffer said after the Fillies' 19th shutout. "It was still in the back of my mind, the 'what-ifs.'

"Once I saw it had ricocheted I started yelling. It was a great transition from everyone."

And the Fillies continued to overcome missing all-conference juniors Emily Hyde (illness) and Catie Curran (torn ACL) to reach Tuesday's 7 p.m. Rockford Boylan sectional semifinal against Huntley (21-3-1), which beat Rockford Guilford 4-0 for the Rockford Jefferson regional title.

But Lake Zurich (10-10-1), which suffered its second 1-0 loss of the year to the Fillies, wasn't far from making the trip behind Eisenhuth, senior forward Sarah Stauner and senior sweeper Stacy Sanders.

"That's what the state playoffs are all about," said Lake Zurich coach Meghan Kolze, whose team lost 5-0 to Barrington in last year's regional final. "This was awesome - a great game against a great team and I thought we stuck with them the whole time."

It looked as if the Bears would be coming back today as the Barrington lightning detector halted play 20:25 into the match. After a delay of more than two hours, they were coming back onto the field to get their bags and head home when the all-clear signal sounded and play resumed.

The Fillies are glad it did as Pfeiffer, Caroline Condon and Amy Johnson created numerous chances before the big breakthrough.

"This team just finds a way," Stengren said.