Girls soccer: Barrington takes big stride against Fremd

Barrington's girls soccer team took a big step toward a spot in the Mid-Suburban League title game with a 1-0 victory over Fremd on Wednesday at Barrington Community Stadium.

Anna Brodjian's 11th goal of the season six minutes into the second half moved the Fillies (18-1-0, 9-0-0, 27 points) a step closer to a place in next week's 28th MSL Soccer Bowl.

It would be an unprecedented sixth consecutive appearance in the conference's matchup of divisional champs.

"This was exactly the type of game we knew it would be," said Barrington coach Ryan Stengren. "Fremd played really well defensively, relied on Kelsie (Stone) to make some big saves and looked to surprise with the counter.

"We played well when we needed to, especially in the second half when I thought we would dictate things for quite a while. But we still have two important games ahead of us, so we're not getting ahead of ourselves."

A Fillies victory against Elk Grove on Friday would clinch an outright West Division title.

Barrington was coming of a draining stretch of games, with three straight tournament games at the Naperville Invite, including the championship game on Saturday (which Barrington won against Naperville North).

"This is one we knew we really needed to have," said Barrington's Soph Spinnell, "and with it being Fremd, we knew the effort had to be good enough to match what they always bring when we play them."

The all-state midfielder whipped in a superb cross to Brodjian into the box, and the senior found a way to slot under Stone.

"Kelsie played great tonight, like she always does for us, and we played as well as we could tonight, but it just wasn't enough," said Vikings senior Julia Szylke.

The star center-back was playing alongside a different back line partner as The Vikings recently had yet another injury to a key player, senior Marta Cholewa.

"We've done pretty well covering for season-ending injuries to Emilijia Peleckas and Katie Kiolbassa, but when Marta went down in our 3-2 OT loss to Naperville North the other day, we knew that would be a tough one to overcome," said Fremd coach Steve Keller.

The Vikings still did their best, and held the high-powered Fillies attack scoreless in the first 40 minutes. Much of that was due to Stone, who stopped a point-blank attempt by Ellie Stodola at 19 minutes and later denied Spinell on a left-footed blast.

"Barrington plays with a lot of confidence and purpose, and is very sure of themselves on the ball, so our approach was to keep them from building their attack and creating chances," said Keller. "For the most part we did just that, but we were not very dangerous on the other end."

The attack came to life for the Vikings (12-3-1, 8-2-0) in the late stages of the first half, and again when they went in search of the equalizer by moving Julia Leonard up top to join Missy Adrian. But the best opportunity for the visitors came when Leonard drove her 30-yard free kick wide of the post just inside the hour.

"The last three games we've played (Fremd) have all been close and tightly played," Brodjian said. "But we were ready for another one, and we're not done yet."

Buffalo Grove 1, Elk Grove 0: The Bison wrapped up a second straight appearance in the MSL Soccer Bowl under coach Pat Dudle by winning their MSL East matchup at home.

Tess Vasilakos scored with an assist from Hannah Cole in the first half, and Zugey Olvera earned a shutout for Buffalo Grove.

Palatine 2, Conant 1 (OT): The visiting Pirates got the decisive goal in extra time to pick up a road win in a matchup of MSL West contenders.

Conant's goal was a first-half strike from Jess Smeltzer, assisted by Kaylin Feeley.

Prospect 1, Rolling Meadows 0: Aly Kobler scored in the first half with an assist from Ella Marzolf to give the visiting Knights an MSL East win, along with a shutout for keeper Gianna Rossi.

Schaumburg 6, Hoffman Estates 0: Emma Aguilar had 2 goals and 2 assists, Dana Kiszkowski had 1 goals and 2 assists and Al Schaar had 2 goals and 1 assist to power the Saxons in MSL West play.

Abbie Paolicchi also had a goal, Michelle Candotti had an assist and Emily Reddy stopped 2 shots in earning the shutout for Schaumburg (5-9-1 overall).