Boys soccer: Barrington drops Hersey

The biggest heavyweight match of the boys soccer season thus far in the Mid-Suburban League went the distance Thursday night in Arlington Heights. And when it was over, Barrington had earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Hersey.

The teams came into Roland Goins Stadium undefeated against their MSL foes, and leading their divisions with 21 points. The Huskies were sharing the East lead with Wheeling, which has a game in hand.

"No doubt, this was a good win for this team," said Barrington coach Scott Steib. "You never want to play for a draw, but if we come out of here with 1 point tonight, it gives us a little breathing room over Conant. And getting 3 points allows a lot more wiggle room before we play this Saturday."

The Broncos (12-2-1, 8-0-0-24 points) can close out second-place Conant this weekend when the two sides meet.

It was clear during the early exchanges that a big crowd would be treated to a lovely brand of soccer. Barrington and Hersey have earned the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the upcoming sectional.

"We could see (them) two more times this season, so this was a learning experience for all of us and one that I know we took plenty away from, even in defeat," said an upbeat Darren Llewelyn, Hersey's head coach.

The speed of play lent itself to some terrific action in the first 10 minutes. That led to the game's highlight, a spectacular goal in the 12th minute.

A superb ball from the center of the field by Kai Sebens onto the foot of Michael Blanke deep in his run up the right flank got things started. And when Blanke, a sophomore, found another gear to beat his man, it allowed the young striker the chance to play the ball across to Klaus Pallan, who steered in his 21st goal of the season.

"I thought we were prepared for everything that Barrington did, but we weren't prepared for the speed No. 19 (Blanke) had on the outside," said Llewelyn. "We'll be ready for that, and a few other things, if and when we meet again."

Llewelyn was also impressed with the work rate and defensive solidarity of the Broncos' midfield, which was effective in slowing down the playmaking talents of Christian Castro to help keep the Huskies' high-powered attack in check during the first half.

"I thought we worked really hard, especially in the first half, which helped to keep the ball in the their end most of the half, and out of ours," said Barrington's Gio Guarnero, who teammed with Zach Carbonara and Sebens at midfield.

Adam Szymaszek turned away Blanke on two chances from in close, while the Huskies (10-1-1, 7-1-0) were unable to threaten from the run of play. Yet Hersey was still dangerous on several of set-piece and dead-ball chances, a handful of them initiated off the strong right foot of Guiseppe Scaletta.

"Hersey did really well dropping balls in behind us and into the box, but Alex (Ruffolo) was fearless for us in between the sticks, and our defense stayed composed," said Steib. "But I can tell you if this was the early part of the season, a couple of those likely would have gone in.

"We haven't stopped working on that part of the game, and tonight you saw all of our hard work pay off."

Barrington weathered several corners by Castro, deep throws from Thomas Skiba, and Scaletta doing his part.

"Barrington might have taken three off the line, so maybe if one of those goes in, things end up differently," said Llewelyn. "But I told the guys we have to continue to just go out and play free and easy from here on out, and good things will continue to happen for us."

North Shore Country Day 6, Christian Liberty 2: Freshman David Beshara fueled an explosive second half, scoring 3 goal in a 10-minute span to help the visiting Raiders top Christian Liberty Academy 6-2 in Arlington Heights.

"It was a good win for us after our disappointing loss last time out, and it was good to see (David) who lives here in Arlington Heights, have a day like he did today," said Raiders coach Kyle Jones, whose club is now 6-6-2.

"We've been struggling of late due to the many injuries we're going through right now," said CLA coach Aaron DeRidder. "Despite today's loss, I was still very proud of our effort - but it just wasn't enough against a team like North Shore."

The visitors dominated the early proceedings with quality midfield play, including the young duo of Beshara and his running mate, sophomore Aidan Zavala, while teammates Andrew Conlon and Brad O'Connor kept the Raiders' back line organized and ready to join the attack when needed.

"We won a lot of first and second balls today, and when we were able to possess and finally play the ball wide and not through the middle, we began to create more chances and opportunities," said Jones.

Despite being put under pressure for most of the first 20 minutes, it was the home side who opened the scoring.

Jesse Castro's neat little half-volley was his 22nd goal of the year, but the Chargers' lead was short-lived as 60 seconds later Alex Winslow pulled the visitors back even.

O'Connor sent the Raiders into the break with a 1-goal advantage, but Castro equalized eight minutes after the intermission.

"We weren't happy to have conceded a couple of soft goals like we did today, but we came back well from those defensive errors," Jones said.

After O'Connor's second goal gave the Raiders the lead for good in the 49th minute, Beshara took control with three his consecutive strikes.

"We gave up a couple of easy ones today, but I never saw the guys hang their heads when we started to chase a couple of goals, and that's what I reminded them of after the game - that and the fact that we could play these guys again in the postseason," said DeRidder.