Barrington too tough for Lake Zurich
Barrington stayed on course in its postseason run by overwhelming No. 2 seed Lake Zurich 5-0 Friday night to win its own regional title.
The Fillies advanced to Tuesday's sectional semifinal against McHenry, which defeated Machesney Park Harlem 1-0 to capture its first regional championship.
Top-flight striker Mary Kubiak gave the Fillies (18-3-3) a lead in the 16th minute. Then the Fillies blitzed the Bears (9-10-3) with 3 goals in 13 minutes, including a late strike just before intermission from Emmelle Hirdes on what would be the second of 4 assists sophomore Emily Hyde.
"We didn't play well in the first 10-15 minutes," said Fillies midfielder Caroline Condon, "But our energy level increased with each goal that we scored."
With early pressure front-to-back from the Bears, LZ took away the possession play that the No. 1 Fillies enjoy playing on their turf - until Kubiak's goal.
"I can tell you that our play in the first half wasn't what we expect, but I was impressed with our training all week long in preparation (for) this match and the way that we didn't sit back after we got the lead and with the way we attacked looking for more," said Fillies coach Ryan Stengren.
The Bears thought they had an early strike just six minutes in the match when a well-hit free kick from Stacey Sanders went through the hands of keeper Kelly Pedersen, but the officials nullified the apparent goal because of a foul.
Kubiak beat a pair of defenders before slotting under Bears keeper Maggie Eisenhuth, and that was it Hirdes' redirected header found the back of the net at 35 minutes.
Just before the Hirdes goal, Eisenmuth brilliantly stopped Liz Sauer in close off a Fillies corner.
"Some of our focus before this match was defending set-piece plays, free kicks and corners, and we failed to do (so) and they scored a big goal right before the break," said LZ coach Meghan Kolze.
Condon made it 3-0, then moments later the senior pushed the lead to 4-0 when she ran another Hyde helper.
Eisenmuth made the initial save on a Hyde blast, but Lauren Decraene converted the rebound at 61 minutes.