Winhoffer shines brightly for St. Charles North
St. Charles North squeezed into the championship match of the 22nd annual Barrington Classic after defeating the host Broncos 2-1 on the strength of a pair of goals from Mike Winhoffer and a little help from a quickly developing storm Thursday night.
The North Stars (5-0-2) survived some nervous moments after Winhoffer hit the go-ahead strike at 65 minutes with a brilliant individual effort as the homeside threw everything forward in search of the equalizer. The Broncos were stopped by the visitors extra effort along the back, and enough lightning and rain to see officials end the match in the 73rd minute.
"It's never a good thing to win a match like that, and I told Scott (Barrington head coach Steib) that same thing while we were waiting to get the word on whether we would wait things out or call it a night," said Stars head coach Eric Wilson, who will see his lads take on Rockford Boylan at 6 p.m. Saturday to decide who will carry off the big trophy.
"But we worked hard (today) and Barrington played us very tough for those 70-plus minutes, so we'll take the win and go forward."
Both Winhoffer, and talented midfielder Noah Anthony, were at times, too much to handle for the Broncos (0-3-2) on this night. The Stars dynamic duo managed to create and distribute to each other, and their teammates, with enough pace to help keep their opponents weary when the night was over.
The Broncos were unable to clean things up in their own end, allowing Winhoffer to swoop in and drive a low blast past keeper Will Cotopolis at nine minutes.
The fast-paced, physically played match, kept the center official busy, as well as the medical staff, who treated several players from both sides in a chippy first half. That included Anthony, who lost out in a 50-50 challenge, and was forced to leave for 10 minutes while the cobwebs were cleared.
When Anthony returned, he appeared to be at 100 percent, as the senior delivered one after another well-paced left-footed free-kicks, including a trio of serves in the final moments before intermission, to cause Cotopolis an anxious moment or two.
Anthony went close at 52 minutes, with Cotopolis extending to his left to turn around the attempt, but minutes later, sophomore Greg Zahour pulled his club even at the back post when he finished a superb serve sent in by Dan Barber that seemed to lull the North Stars' asleep in their own end.
Cotopolis would stop another Anthony shot, initiated by a Nick Lutsch serve from the midline, but the senior wasn't given any defensive support when the rebound in the area was collected by Winhoffer, who danced in close enough before going under the Broncos' keeper to make it 2-1 in the 65th minute.
"I am not sure how we could have allowed (No. 19, Winhoffer) to have that much time to touch the ball so many times, before getting his shot off," said a disappointed Steib.
"We really are getting very close to this club turning the corner, but we've got to eliminate some of those types of mistakes in order to do so."
The Broncos will take on Warren at 1:00 p.m. Saturday in the fifth-place match.