Hyde, Barrington edge St. Viator
Two soccer clubs struggling to find the back of the net needed 100 minutes to do so Wednesday evening in the first of two matches at the 14th annual Mairin Wallner Memorial tournament in Barrington.
After a multitude of chances in the second half, the host Fillies (6-3-1) prevailed in their tournament opener with a dramatic 1-0 victory over St. Viator (6-6-0) with senior Emily Hyde striking the game-winner in the 100th minute.
“It’s been really a tough year for us to score goals so far,” said Hyde, whose left-footed missile crashed off the bar and over the endline.
The victory moves Barrington one step closer to advancing into the second weekend of play at the Naperville Invite.
“Both Molly (Pfeiffer) and I are both back from last season and playing up top, but we’ve got so many new players in the middle, and up front, and it’s just taking a lot of time to get ourselves going,” said Hyde, who last season led the club in scoring with 13 goals to combine with Pfeiffer for 23 of the team’s 47 goals.
“Tonight was one of our best efforts of the year when it came to us creating quality chances,” said Barrington coach Ryan Stengren, who has seen just 11 goals end up in his opponent’s net thus far. Fortunately for the Fillies, they’ve only yielded 9 goals in 10 matches.
Both teams had a handful of excursions into the other’s end in the first half, but it was an athletic save from Lions keeper Morgan Hess on a Mia Calamari free kick at 16 minutes which kept the match goal-less after 40 minutes. That helped set up a wide-open second half, with both the Lions and Fillies causing the other to defend in its own end as the pressure mounted.
Katelyn Hammarlund carried into the box before finding Taylor Skala, whose shot lacked the required pace to beat keeper Kelly Pedersen from in close. Then it was Catie Curran connecting with Hyde at 68 minutes, but the shot went over the bar.
Hammarlund got free twice in the first extra session, the second time after a nfity turn on the end line to force another Pedersen save. But just seconds into the second 10-minute OT, Hyde let a Emmelie Hirdes ball fall freely to her left foot before unloading the game-winner.
“Morgan (Hess) did a wonderful job for us today, and I really felt this was one of our best efforts of the season thus far, and a game in which we saw how well these girls could play against a quality opponent and on a big field,” said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor. “If we keep playing this well, our luck will turn, and we will start to win these games.”
The Lions will back in Barrington on Saturday to face Evanston, while the Fillies welcome the Wildkits tonight at 5 p.m.
“We were missing four starters tonight, and our depth was tested once again, but overall I thought we responded pretty well with our lineup changes,” said Stengren.