Barrington sharpens up against Buffalo Grove
Barrington’s boys soccer team displayed its tournament form Tuesday afternoon in a 3-1 victory over visiting Buffalo Grove in a Mid-Suburban League crossover of divisional second-place finishers.
Craig Zahour scored a pair of goals, the second coming minutes after the break to give the hosts a 3-0 lead, and keeper Max Redpath turned away a couple of quality chances in the final quarter-hour to guarantee the Broncos (11-7-3) their ninth victory in 12 matches.
“It’s kind of hard to explain how during the past two years we’ve gone on long winning streaks after we return from Indianapolis (for the Great Midwest Classic),” said Zahour, “but I think everything seems to click for us as a team when we get back, and we all realize that hard work and effort is the reason for our success.”
Barrington finishes the regular season Saturday at Lake Park, in what will be the final regular-season soccer match for long-time Lancers head coach and hall-of-famer Norm Hillner, who will step down after the 2012 school year.
“When I was a freshman, we went into the regionals on a winning streak, and went out in our first game against Lake Zurich,” Zahour said. “Last year, we were really playing well in the final weeks (11-1-1) and lost our opener once again.
“I am one of the few guys around who has been involved in the last two regionals. So I am thinking that with so much inexperience, and so little history for most of the guys on this team, that we will go into our regional fresh and ready to go in what I believe can be a great run for us.”
The Broncos went 7-2-2 in the league, good for 23 points and third overall in the MSL table. Buffalo Grove (10-4-6) finished fifth overall with 20 points and a 6-3-2 conference record.
“What you saw today is kind of how things went for us all throughout the season,” said Bison coach Rick Carlson. “We played some great soccer, especially in the final 15-20 minutes, but we had a few moments were we let down and Barrington scored. We created chances, but couldn’t finish, and that’s how things have gone for us.”
The Bison were without a quartet of starters, including captain Alex Masciopinto as well as Kirill Likhovid, Alberto Eloyza and Luis Marquez. Their absence was clearly felt at times, especially when the Broncos’ work rate and energy peaked during a nine-minute stretch in the first half and again just after intermission when Zahour added an all-important third goal.
“The first half of the season was our best soccer of the year, then we fell off, went through some injuries, and began to play more as individuals, instead of as a team as we had early on,” said BG senior midfielder Markus Fiordaliso.
Fiordaliso played as a withdrawn striker at times and also in the middle alongside Irving Eloyza, who forced Redpath into consecutive goal-saving stops in the closing moments, including a point-blank shot at 74 minutes.
Barrington’s first clear-cut chance came at 23 minutes, and after Reid Strain and Grant McAndrew did all of the preliminary work, Zahour finished from the right side past a diving Nick Landsberger.
At 32 minutes, Tyler Deacon doubled the Broncos’ advantage as he charged through the right side to fire in an angled shot after collecting Brett Qualiardi’s helper.
Redpath denied a shot from Eloyza, and at the other end, Zahour found the back of the net at 44 minutes, thanks in part to some terrific work on the ball from Strain and McAndrew once again.
Fiordaliso ended the Broncos’ bid for a shutout in the 60th minute and it seemed to awaken the Bison attack. BG poured forward — only to be stopped by Redpath or defenders John Gallagher and Zach Rowe, who tackled and cleared the area of multiple dangerous touches and serves.
The Broncos meet top seed Cary-Grove next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the opener of the Lake Zurich regional.
“Our regional is up for grabs, and anyone of us can beat the other, but if we go out and play hard for 80 minutes, there is no reason why we cannot compete with any team in that group,” said Barrington coach Scott Steib.
Class 1A regionals
David Colbert and Mike Hennek scored 2 goals apiece as top-seeded Christian Liberty (19-0) beat No. 4 Elgin Academy 6-1 in the Class 1A Westminster Christian regional semifinal in Elgin.
Luke Comerouski scored his 45th goal of the year, Kiefer Bennett added a goal and 2 assists and Tom Salsgiver had 7 saves as the Chargers broke open a 2-1 game at halftime. They play for the regional title at noon Saturday against the winner of today’s Westminster-St. Edward semifinal.
Christian Liberty beat both teams during the regular season.