Girls soccer: Barrington blanks Prospect, will play Buffalo Grove for MSL title
Perennial Mid-Suburban West girls soccer power Barrington, inspired by early goals from Jen Denova and Brooke Brown, turned on the style Wednesday night at George Gattas Memorial Stadium in Mount Prospect to beat Prospect 2-0 and clinch its ninth consecutive division crown.
The Fillies (11-1-2, 9-0-1) will now face MSL East champion Buffalo Grove (9-4-3, 6-2-2) Friday at 7 p.m. in the 31st annual MSL Soccer Bowl at BG.
"For us to be back in the Soccer Bowl after losing nearly everyone from our 2019 team says a lot about the hard work this team has put in, and the job our coaching staff has done to shape basically a brand new team into one that will playing for a conference title is something we should all be proud of," said the all-state candidate Denova, who will be playing at DePaul University in the fall.
"We got off to the quick start we talked about doing tonight, then played a very good 20-25 minutes to take control. I just wish we were able to get that third goal to make it a little easier on us," said Fillies head coach Ryan Stengren, who like his captain Denova, was proud of what his club accomplished thus far.
The ever-present Devona opened the scoring for the Fillies in the 6th minute when she sent her 11th goal of the season the opposite way of keeper Annie Ninness, who enjoyed a solid 80 minutes of work.
Brooke Brown's emphatic close-range finish two minutes later off a wonderful ball from Lara Lubinsky helped send the visitors on their way to a league-best 15th appearance in the Soccer Bowl.
"In that first 15-20 minutes their wing players, especially No. 12 (Lubinsky), gave us a lot of trouble and helped lead to their two early goals to force us to chase the game the rest of the way," said Knights (4-6-2, 4-5-1) coach Tom Froats. "I thought we came back to play a strong second half of soccer, but (Barrington) is a very good side, and much better up close.
"We finished really well, and the hope is we carry that into our regional opener next Wednesday against Highland Park."
Senior Coast Liapis would claim shutout No. 7.5 of the season, thanks in part to another strong effort from the back line in front of her, including Kate McGreevy, Ellie Sanchez, Grace Stagnito, and Ella VanNess.