Barrington tips CL South in shootout

Liz Burzynski and Kathryn Avedon became instant heroes for Barrington on Thursday as they helped keep the Fillies (9-1-1) alive and well the 2010 Pepsi Showdown Tournament.

First, Burzynski saved a sure spot-kick off the foot of Crystal Lake South senior Alison Agnes. Moments later, Avedon, a seldom-used freshman, steered her attempt past a diving Elizabeth Quinn to give the Fillies a 4-2 advantage in shootout and 1-0 victory over the Gators. The victory puts Barrington into Saturday's tournament quarterfinals at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

"I've actually been training quite a bit in preparation for being out there and in a shootout situation, so when the time came for me to be out there for my team, I was as ready as I could possibly be," said Burzynski with a wide grin, after both she and Avedon were swarmed by their mates in the middle of the Fillies' home turf.

Burzynski's save took on added importance after Caroline Condon went wide in Round 2 of the shootout, sending Agnes to the spot with a chance to give the Gators (7-4-0) a 2-1 lead.

"I saw were her hips were lining up before her attempt, so I knew she would go to my right, and I when she shot, I was already leaning that way," said Burzynski, who was in coach Ryan Stengren's starting lineup as Kelly Petersen got a rest (she'd played 100 minutes of scoreless soccer the night before at Fremd in a 0-0 draw).

"Liz has done a great job for us this season already as the starting keeper while Kelly was rehabbing an injury, and she showed what she could do for us tonight when we really needed her," said Stengren.

Burzynski and her backline were under pressure from the very beginning by the Gators, who, despite competing without top player Karley Mecko, who was injured earlier in the week in a 3-1 victory over rival Cary-Grove, grabbed the run of play against the favored Fillies and didn't let go for most of the first half.

With a strong wind in their face and having to deal with the likes of Ashley Ross, Kali Loescher and Elise Brunner, the Fillies could only defend, and hope to ride out a rampant Gators attack for 40 minutes.

"We showed that we could play with one of the best teams around, and there is no reason that we cannot build off a match like this and take what we learned from it into our conference," said Gators coach Brian Allen.

"We could have been a little sharper when we were in their end, but Barrington was a very good defensive team, and we all did the best we could," said Ross.

Gators keeper Quinn, who was solid herself throughout the 100 minutes of play, made a superb stop on freshman Molly Pfieffer with at 74 minutes, and on the ensuing corner, Emmelie Herdes appeared to thump her header of a Molly Johnson corner under the bar - but a late block by a South defender ruined the chance.

Once inside the first extra session, the Fillies came forward with all their might in search of a golden goal, but a couple of near-misses were all they could get, and the Gators forced the shootout.

Once there, it was 3-2 in favor of the Fillies as Johnson, Alexa Rowe and Emily Hyde converted, as did Ross and Loescher for South, to set up the game-winner by Avedon.

"It was all about character and leadership which helped carry this team through after its second-straight hard-fought OT match," said Stengren.

"We needed to experience a match like this tonight," said Allen, "and I thought we responded very well as a team on both sides of the ball."