Girls soccer: Barrington wins another MSL Cup in dramatic fashion

Barrington won the 2026 Mid-Suburban League championship, securing its record extending 14th league title after a 3-2 victory, and 5-3 advantage in penalty kicks, to help the Fillies continue their mastery of the conference following a victory over the host Fremd Vikings on Thursday night.

This team is so resilient, and I so proud of these girls right now," said an elated Fillies coach Ryan Stengren after a big crowd at Hildebrandt Field in Palatine witnessed the 36th MSL Soccer Cup.

The road to yet another title for Ryan Stengren's club was not as easy as it has been in the past after coming back from a two-goal deficit Tuesday to win their semifinal contest with Palatine 4-2 to advance while at the same time the Vikings rolled past Buffalo Grove, 4-0, to reach the final for the first time since 2009.

The Vikings (13-5-1) were the better side in the first half, and would go into the intermission with a 2-1 advantage, thanks to goals from Gwen Zimmerman and Lily Mayer.

The visitor’s lone goal of the first half came on an own goal at 14 minutes.

Zoe Martin would find the equalizer for the Fillies just after the hour to set up an intense 16 minutes to finish off regulation, and another 20 minutes extra time to send this final in penalty kicks.

Once there, the Fillies were perfect with AJ Sanchez, Lauren Cobb, Maddie Martin-Johnston, Jazlyn Fertig, and Whitney Stacey converting from the spot, while keeper Dominique Klujian made one save to help her club lift the championship trophy.

"(Stengren) watched too much film, and had us incredibly prepared for this game against a great Fremd team," said Klujian.

At the break, the MSL honored the 2026 all-conference players from each team, as well as naming the MSL East (Jolee Waddington, Palatine) and MSL West (Gwen Zimmerman, Fremd) players of the year.