Boys soccer: Barrington blanks Lake Forest in regional opener
No. 2 seed Barrington (16-4-1) produced an authoritative second half performance in its regional boys soccer opener at Grant Blaney Stadium Tuesday night, downing Lake Forest 4-0 to reach the regional final where it will face Mid-Suburban League rival Buffalo Grove on Saturday at 6 p.m.
The Broncos made the perfect start in their game with No. 14 seed Lake Forest (5-10-5) when Junior Hernandez redirected his heel flick in from close range in the 4th minute to send the MSL West division runners-up on their way to the win.
"Last year our first game turned into a nightmare when we lost to Warren so on a day like this where it's cold, and the wind is blowing sideways it was important for us to get the first goal, then play smart and manage the game and that's what we did," said Barrington senior C.J. Steib, who helped on the Hernandez goal, then doubled the lead 10 minutes after the intermission.
That wind Steib was speaking of would make its imprint on the game just because of the sheer force it would bring. However, despite the wild conditions, play from both sides was impressive at times in the way each side would connect and combine passes.
Barrington, which has now won 10 of its last 11 games, enjoyed most of the play during the first 20 minutes, having a chance to add to its lead if not for some terrific work by Scouts keeper John Walsh.
Lake Forest would come to life after the half-hour thanks in part to its leading goal scorer, Nico DeFilippis, and Sebastian Obrzut as well as Carter Collis but the Broncos' back line, which stayed organized and composed, made sure their opponents stayed out of the net.
"I thought from the middle of the first half until the break, we played well to even the match out but in the end, Barrington was more dynamic and dangerous than we were, and when we were a little sloppy in our end they took advantage of it," said Scouts coach Rob Parry.
Steib made it 2-0 after Walsh's initial save on a Niko Argyros free kick that spilled into the box where the Broncos' senior finished nicely with his left foot.
Efren Vega and Michael Horak did all of the preliminary work on the Broncos' third goal, which came from Henry Wachsman who steered in his effort from Argyros on the tail end of a well executed counter.
Chris Guerra would add to the score line one minute from time.
"From the minute I woke up this morning, I began thinking about this game and how important it was for all of us to come out strong from the beginning and take charge- and that's what we did," said Steib.