Girls soccer: Barrington had high hopes as nation's top-ranked team
Not many teams can say they started the girls soccer season ranked No. 1 in the nation and finished No. 1.
Unfortunately, Barrington did it this spring without playing a game. The IHSA suspended the season a week before it was to start and ultimately canceled the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite that top ranking from Top Drawer Soccer, the season would have been a challenge right from the start. The Fillies' scheduled season opener had them meeting Naperville North, the team they had played in the Class 3A championship game last June, when the Huskies took the title in penalty kicks.
"We had a little bit of an edge about us just because we were coming off second place when a lot of our girls felt like we were obviously the better team last year and we lost in PKs and they wanted to kind of live up to those expectations this year," Barrington coach Ryan Stengren said. "That was their challenge for this year, and they don't get a chance to do that."
Stengren's Fillies not only had that chip on their shoulder for motivation, they had a senior-laden club led by four-year varsity players Juliana Moreno and Tina Teik.
"I'm telling you, our kids were really, really ready to go," Stengren said.
Other teams might not have been quite as highly regarded, but they were looking forward to fun seasons also.
"We at Stevenson always have a plan and then have a plan within that plan and then an alternate plan to that plan, and we were extremely excited," said coach PepeJon Chavez, who hoped to have a third season in which to mold the Patriots' program.
Like all other coaches, however, he couldn't have seen the need to plan for a season with only virtual practices and without games.
"For our kids to not have the opportunity to express ourselves on the field is extremely sad," Chavez said. "And I know every other student-athlete across all sports feel that way."
"My seniors didn't get to pass on what they know," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco added. "They didn't get to pass on that competitiveness and what the culture of Batavia soccer is about."
Gianfrancesco was looking forward to his 10th season coaching the Bulldogs girls with 12 seniors on the 22-player roster.
"Top to bottom, I really think this might have been the best team I've had," he said.
While other schools still have the possibility of summer camps, District 204 in the Aurora-Naperville area took that off the table last week.
For Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau, that means not being able to work with some future Wildcats.
"It doesn't really affect me in terms of for next year because a lot of times, you get into the summer, they're working with their club teams anyway at that point," he said.
It does mean, however, Moreau won't be around any of his current Wildcats to build relationships with them and to discuss their futures.
Chavez and Gianfrancesco both coach the boys teams at their schools as well as the girls, and that's where the lack of team summer workouts will have a more immediate effect. For the boys, who play in the fall, the summer serves as a preseason.
The lack of a 2020 season almost certainly will affect how coaches approach 2021. They could find themselves working with players who don't have much experience at the varsity level and working with the coach. That's where the lack of a season hurts this year's juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
"I guess the bigger piece is more the camaraderie, the culture, the expectation that gets passed on by those older girls because they see the success that they've had and they continue to pass that down," Gianfrancesco said. "It makes my job pretty easy because I started that way and then I had some really good girls and that just kept going and just kind of snowballed."
At least Barrington players can feel some consolation in the lost season.
"Most of the girls on this roster have won a state championship and they've played in a state championship, so at least they got that," Stengren said. "Some kids don't ever get that opportunity."