Barrington edges BG for sixth straight sectional crown

Nearly two months of waiting saw the two giants of Mid-Suburban League girls soccer meet on Friday night in the championship match of the Class 3A Libertyville sectional final: No. 1 seed Buffalo Grove vs. No. 2. Barrington.

There could be no doubt that this was who everyone figured would be in this much-anticipated contest.

Colleen Zickert finally broke the resistance Barrington's defense to bring the Bison (22-3-3) close at 44 minutes but the Fillies' Jenna Szczesny had already put the shine of the silverware with two first-half strikes to give Barrington a hard-fought 2-1 victory.

It was the sixth straight sectional crown for the Fillies (18-3-1), who will meet New Trier at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Hersey supersectional with a chance to return to the final four of the state tournament.

"It was exactly the type of game we expected it to be," said senior Mia Calamari, who was part of the back four which helped keep the vaunted Bison attack in check.

Barrington keeper Hannah Luedtke was called on just a handful of occasions during the sun and extreme heat on the turf of the Wildcats' stadium floor.

"We knew we couldn't allow Buffalo Grove to play their possession game, and I think for the most part, we kept that in check, and now we're in the game we want to be next week," added Calamari, who quickly left the arena with the hopes of making graduation ceremonies.

"It's too bad that two of the best teams in the state had to play here, and not later on, like we did at the state tournament last year, but that's the way it goes sometimes, and for us, we're done now," said BG coach Pat Dudle.

The Bison got back into the match late in the first period, then immediately after intermission when they played their best soccer of the afternoon.

For the second consecutive game Szczesny was full of pace, energy and creativity and helped provide the Fillies with a presence up top on nearly every visit into the BG end.

Along with senior Elli Ackermann and Carrie Madden, who was injured midway through the first half, Szczesny and her mates set the tone for a whirlwind opening.

Szczesny scored her 29th goal in the 14th minute and 30th a little while later to send the Fillies' faithful into a frenzy.

"It's been a while since we had the intensity that we brought right from the opening whistle," she said. "And it seemed to bring the level of play up from everybody today."

At the tail end of her left-to-right run, the junior finished under keeper Georgette Topalis. She received a lovely early ball from Ackermann which split the Bison defense in two.

Colleen and Kelli Zickert set up a teammate later on, but the shot went wide of Luedtke.

Both coaches attempted to bring on fresh legs to combat the heat.

Just a few minutes after Ryan Stengren brought on Soph Spinell, the freshman turned into a creator when her superb cross fell onto the foot of Szczesny on the far side.

The all-state striker then unloaded a one-time volley that few could. Her angled shot rippled the far-inside netting to double the Fillies' advantage.

"Obviously, that was a big goal but we knew there was more to come from Buffalo Grove," Stengren said. "They weren't going to go away despite their 2-goal deficit at the break."

The Bison came alive with quick play and touches.

Soon they were pushing upfield when the second half started.

Skylar Groth broke open the Fillies along the back to force a late tackle or a one-on-one situation with Luedtke.

Some brilliant passing work between the Zickert twins put Colleen through, and the senior finished smartly in the 44th minute.

"We started to play Buffalo Grove soccer but we didn't keep it going," Dudle said. "We just couldn't generate very many opportunities after that first one."

"The hard part is to see not only a highly-talented group of seniors leave the program, but also a very classy bunch who helped turn Bison around from nothing to something very special," Dudle said.

"This was a game you had to be nervous about because of how good Buffalo Grove is," Stengren said. "But now we have to get a few of our players healthy while getting others some rest before next Tuesday."