Girls soccer: Barrington wins at Palatine, clinches West title

Barrington produced a 2-1 victory in girls soccer Saturday at Palatine to finish an unbeaten run against its Mid-Suburban League foes and clinch a spot in Wednesday's MSL Soccer Bowl against East Division champ Buffalo Grove.

The Fillies will travel for a 7 p.m. Wednesday date at Buffalo Grove to decide the league's overall championship.

Barrington ended up 11-0 in the MSL, good for 33 points in the standings. Palatine was 9-2 and finished with 27 points.

Conant 4, Buffalo Grove 2: The visiting Bison had a 2-1 halftime lead before Conant (10-5-1 overall) produced a 3-0 scoring edge in the second half to complete their MSL slate with a victory.

Goals for Buffalo Grove came from Danielle Allaire (assisted by Gina Bolis) and from Georgette Topalis (assisted by Tess Vasilakos).

Stephanie Mazurek, Jessica Smeltzer and Kaylin Feeley both finished with 1 goal and 1 assist for Conant.

Britany Laskero also scored, and Emily Mazurek had an assist.

Maine South 3, Lake Zurich 1: With the North Suburban Conference girls soccer race settled, Lake Zurich has changed focus.

But the picture didn't get much clearer after a 3-1 loss to Maine South on Saturday in a nonconference matchup in Park Ridge.

The Bears had been playing some high-quality soccer recently, which led to a run toward to the top of the NSC standings. But a 3-1 loss to Libertyville on Thursday opened the door for Warren to clinch the league crown.

To Lake Zurich coach Mike Castronova, the reason behind the recent struggles is pretty simple.

"We're just playing some good teams," he said. "We know throughout the season, you're going to find some highs and lows, maybe some bumps. We'll bounce back with two games before we get ready for the playoffs. That's what they're there for - to get ready for the postseason."