Boys soccer: Barrington fights through adversity to down Palatine
Barrington ran into a numbers game problem early in Wednesday's boys soccer match against Palatine.
The Broncos, due to an onset of injuries against the Pirates, were down three players at one point in the second half. All the early signs pointed to a long evening.
But the Broncos rebounded with a late first-half goal to cruise to a 2-0 win over Palatine in Mid-Suburban League West play in Barrington.
The Broncos (5-1, 1-0) entered the match with a few key players out with injuries or slowed by an illness, but they managed to overcome a physical match to pull out the win.
"We lost some key players before this, and no team can survive multiple long-term injuries, but hopefully these guys from today will be only day-to-day or week to week," Barrington coach Scott Steib said. "We don't have an All-American on our roster, but we have a really good core of guys, and we're pretty deep. But it stinks to have those injuries happen."
The Pirates (1-4-1, 1-1) finished with 7 shots and 3 corner kicks, succumbing to fatigue in the second half.
"For us, we have a fitness issue on the team and trying to get little deeper in games with our starters, but our guys off the bench did a nice job," Palatine veteran coach Willie Filian said, after his final regular season game at Barrington in his illustrious career. "We just didn't generate enough chances."
The Broncos opened the first half in ominous fashion, with the Pirates attempting 2 corner kicks in the first three minutes. Then, in the 29th minute, Barrington starting defender Adam Walocha suffered an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the match. Less than five minutes later, the Broncos endured another injury when Mattie Vitale injured his ankle to become the second defender stung by an in-game injury.
Still, even after the two key injuries and a near header goal by Jack Peterson with 12:45 left in the first half, the Broncos finally managed to gain some positive news. Barrington's Michael Vitale broke the ice, scoring his first goal of the season off a corner kick at the 12:11 mark, as the loose ball near the box led to a scrum where Michael Vitale managed to find an open and knock the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
"That first goal was a product of hard work in the box and helped boost our momentum," Michael Vitale said.
In the second half, the Broncos came out with an aggressive attack, but the only problem was the play of Palatine goalie Diego Maradiaga. The Broncos had several chances early in the second half, but Maradiaga stopped each ball to notch four saves in the opening 11 minutes.
Barrington's David Gomez, off an excellent pass from Jeremiah Gascho, managed to add an insurance goal, hitting a shot past Maradiaga for a 2-0 lead with 27:05 left in regulation. Gascho became the third Broncos player to leave the game with an injury early in the second half, but he returned less than three minutes later to help set up the second goal.
"They were really on us and were very physical but we still found a way to play our game, especially in the second half," Barrington defender Kyle Wanca said.