Big scoring night for Bartlett vs. Grayslake North
Bartlett flexed its collective muscle Friday night in a 7-0 rout of Grayslake North to win its tournament opener at the Glenbard North Invite on the turf at beautiful Techny Park in Northbrook.
The Hawks (8-4-3) exploded for 6 first-half goals, including a hat-trick from senior Andrew Triantos, and advance in the championship bracket to face the winner of the Wheeling-Kenosha Tremper match.
"It was good for us to break out of our scoring slump in a big way tonight," said Triantos of the Hawks' scoring woes. Bartlett had scored 7 goals in its last eight matches, including a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Neuqua Valley on Thursday night.
"Maybe this is the type of game and result that we all (needed) to get back to where we were earlier in the season, to help restore our confidence for the last half of the season and into the playoffs," Triantos said.
The Hawks wasted little time finding the back of the net when Carmelo Abate and Charlie Sordino helped send Triantos through. He scored past keeper Richard Klarck, who had little support in the early stages.
Two minutes later, the Hawks doubled their lead as Tyler Lake emerged from a scrum in close to slot under Klarck at nine minutes. During the sequence, the Knights lost senior defender Daniel Bazan to an ankle injury for the rest of the match.
Triantos turned past a defender and scored on a low goal, and Joey Morgan also scored to make it 4-0 at the quarter-hour mark.
"We came out without the proper focus and energy to compete against a team as good as Bartlett, and with a talented team such as them, they will take full advantage of their opportunities," said Grayslake North assistant coach Jesse Wolter, filling in for head coach Adam DeCaluwe, "and suddenly we were down by 3-4 goals and the match was pretty much over. It's homecoming week for us, and our guys were not (here) at the start, but somewhere else. But I am proud of the way we fought and played with a lot of heart in that second half, and by doing so, we kept them from adding to their lead until the very end."
Claudio Guerrero breathed some life into the attack for Grayslake North (4-6-0) when he forced Hawks keeper Alex Busch to save at 27 minutes in North's first serious attempt on frame. Triantos scored again, and Jesus Rodriguez made it 5-0 when he was left alone in the area.
The Knights, who less than 24 hours ago defeated Huntley in the eighth round of a shootout in a Fox Valley Conference match, began the second-half brightly when Arnaud Laroche-Bataillie had a go at Busch from in close. But the Hawks' keeper was up to the task, as were backline mates Dan Giera, Daniel Wade and Brett Dini, who were steady for 80 minutes to help preserve the shutout.
"This is a good team that we have here (at) Bartlett, and I am hoping a game like this tonight will get us back to where we were after our 6-0 start on the season," said Bartlett coach Ben Beary, whose club continues tournament play at 11 a.m. today.