Fremd tops Barrington, takes over MSL lead
Fremd boosted its chances in the Mid-Suburban West boys soccer race with a hard-fought 3-1 victory Saturday against Barrington on homecoming day inside Barrington Community Stadium.
The Vikings (9-5-0, 5-1-1, 16 points) are now on top of the MSL, 1 point ahead of MSL East leader Rolling Meadows and 3 points clear of both Schaumburg and Palatine, who each suffered a loss at home on Friday evening.
"Every point means a little bit more at this time of the season," said Fremd coach Steve Keller. "It's the way the league is going this year. You're up, then down, then back up again. But at least we bounced back from that (1-0) Schaumburg loss to get two wins and a draw (vs. Hersey) this week to put us on top after a long week of soccer."
Keller, who has done his best to limit his club to just two competitive matches per week, admitted the back-to-back with Hersey and Barrington, went a long way towards a lackluster opening quarter-hour in some unusually warm conditions on Saturday.
"We were dragging a little bit at the start," said Keller. "Barrington looked that way also, but scoring that first goal is always a great way to bring your energy up, especially in a game with this much importance."
Senior Ben Borst may have caught the Broncos (11-5-0, 4-2-0) on their heels when he ran onto a loose ball following a free kick before slipping his drive past keeper Alex Ruffalo in the 24th minute.
"Coming off of that 1-1 draw last night with Hersey, we all knew we had to get after this one today in order to get the 3 points," said Borst. "After a little bit of a slow start, I feel like we had a lot of the play after that first goal."
Borst doubled the Vikings' advantage at 46 minutes after he patiently waited for teammate Rohan Menon to keep play alive after a Zach Schoffstall freekick before rustling the net with a left-footed strike.
Four minutes later, the Broncos had a chance to get back into the match. But Giles Phillips headed a Tyler Anderson serve over the bar, and later Menon cleared a Casey Slingo corner with confidence.
"We just didn't have our legs today," said Anderson. "It's been a very tough seven days for us, with six games (three at the Freeport Tournament last weekend). It's homecoming week, and we've got a couple of guys who haven't been feeling well all week.
"But that's an excuse, and it doesn't take away from Fremd, and what they did to win this game because in the end, we just didn't come to play."
Luke Schoffstall made the game safe for the Vikings with a well-aimed low drive in the 71st minute, before Luke Sellers ended the shutout bid of Will Lefevre with a free kick inthe 80th minute.
Lefevre had a strong effort in back from his back line of Tomas Peleckas, Jacob Cuthbert and Danny Burton.
"This was a good win for us, but we all know it's not going to be enough if we hope to finish on top," said Peleckas.
The Broncos, who won the Freeport tournament, then proceeded to beat Wheeling and then Schaumburg, now will enjoy a couple of days of rest before turning their attention toward Rolling Meadows and Palatine in the coming week.
"We just didn't have the energy, nor the urgency, needed to compete in a match like this today," said Barrington coach Scott Steib. "I don't know why, but Fremd had more of it than us, plus they were effecient, especially when the chances fell their way."