St. Charles North secures Barrington title
The meteoric rise of upstart Rockford Boylan through pool play, which would send the Titans into the championship match at the 22nd Barrington Classic, ended abruptly Saturday evening when St. Charles North defeated the defending NIC-10 champs 2-0 to win the big trophy.
Noah Anthony had a hand in both goals as the North Stars (6-0-2) made their opponent pay on set piece chances, a fact not lost on Titans coach Chris Mera.
"We're a young team, but also a little undersized in some spots, and (North) is big and strong, including their keeper, and we really lost the battle on dead-ball plays tonight, which obviously led to (the) two goals that beat us."
The Titans got off to a flying start, fueled by the play of their midfield star Victor Zamora, a national team pool player, who, when with the ball on his foot, made plenty of trouble for the North Stars.
"Zamora obviously is a very good player, but I think we had a little too much respect for Boylan at the onset, which really helped put us on our heels," said North Stars coach Eric Willson.
"(They) dominated the first half," added Anthony, "and we really didn't play very well at all until our first goal."
In the 20th minute Anthony found himself alone before the Stars captain thumped in a header from in close.
With the 1-goal deficit, the Titans came alive and played with much more urgency after the break, and kept the North Stars under pressure for the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Goalie Garrett Creasor stopped Tyler Robinson, then Ryan Howe's corner near the spot, which led to Zamora having a go from 20 yards which was on frame to force yet another save from Creasor.
However, with each passing minute of disappointment in finding the equalizer, the Titans' began to lose a bit of composure, taking bad fouls in their own end. That led to several inch perfect serves from Anthony, who proved in the North Stars' win over Barrington on Thursday night that he is an absolute master at this trade.
Anthony proved his value at 62 minutes when his left-footed serve roared across the face of the goal to the back post, where Joe Stone, with a superb effort, kept the play alive by sending a header back across and through the 6-yard box.
It was all Rasmussen would need to finish in spectacular style, and all but put the Titans away for good.
"We would have liked to extend our lead to make things a little easier, but the guys defended so well down the stretch to help seal the victory," said Willson.