Girls soccer: Barrington's offensive onslaught too much for St. Charles North in supersectional; Libertyville also state bound
It's rare that two finely tuned state powers will produce a night of blockbuster goal scoring as did Barrington and St. Charles North would supply Tuesday night in a Class 3A supersectional final at Barrington Community Stadium.
These two clubs played close to the vest matches earlier in the season with Barrington recording tense 2-1 and 1-0 victories. The second result came in the final of the Naperville Invite - so the huge crowd could have never expected what unfolded.
Laney Stark would stun the home side at 5 minutes, but Fillies junior Kaitlin Taylor would equalize almost immediately afterward to begin an adrenalin filled
90 minutes of attack-filled soccer which ended with Barrington earning a 5-3 victory.
It is Barrington's sixth consecutive trip to the 3A state tournament and 14th in program history.
"We preached over and over again that St. Charles North is a team that never quits and never goes away. And we saw that first hand tonight in a game that I never thought would see eight goals scored," said a relieved Fillies coach Ryan Stengren.
The Fillies (22-0-2) will play Libertyville in a state semifinal contest at 5 p.m. Friday at North Central College in Naperville.
"(North) is such a great team, and one that we have a lot of respect for. But when they scored that early goal, and Kaitlin (Taylor) came right back to get us even, it showed we were focused and have a lot of fight and resiliency ourselves," said senior Brooke Brown.
Stark - who bagged a late equalizer, then converted the game-winning spotkick in the Stars' sectional championship match against crosstown rival St. Charles East last Saturday - was one of three Stars who unloaded long range blasts to help keep their hopes alive.
"There is absolutely no give in this team. (Their) heart, desire and grit is one of several things about this group that makes me so proud to be a part of, and they should be extremely proud of what they accomplished this season as well," said North Stars coach Brian Harks.
The DuKane Conference champs were chasing a 3-1 game at 64 minutes after Sarah Sarnowski and Piper Lucier netted for the Fillies before Michigan State University-bound Bella Najera pulled one back in the 70th minute.
Sarnowski would answer almost immediately with two lightning quick strikes, her 23rd, and 24th of the year, to make it 5-2 with seven minutes remaining.
Juliana Park scored from distance in at 76 minutes, but that was it for the North Stars who go out with an overall record of 17-4-2.
"We had to work for everything we got tonight against a very good team, so right now, it feels great to be going back to the state tournament," said Sarnowski.
Libertyville 1, New Trier 0:
Libertyville has been on a thrill ride ever since the start of the postseason - and Tuesday night at Robert Naughton Field in Northfield the Wildcats continued to enjoy that ride that will now take them to the 3A state tournament following their penalty kick shootout supersectional victory over host New Trier.
The Wildcats' 5-3 advantage in kicks gave them a 1-0 win, and a spot in the state semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday against Barrington (22-0-2) at North Central College.
This is the 10th trip to the tournament for the Wildcats, who last appeared two years ago when they brought home a third place trophy, and a dazzling 19-3-0 overall record under coach Daniel De Paz, now in his third season in charge.
Senior Ellie Rebmann hit the post in the 36th minute, and later, Trevians defender Kennedy Colegrove took one off the line.
After 100 minutes of soccer ended goal-loss, it would then go to shootout to decide which team would advance.
Once there, the Wildcats were perfect in all five spot kicks with Jenna Krakowski, Mabelle Kosowski, Shea Krakowski, Molly Koch and Pru Babat converting while the Trevians rattled the bar twice to dash their hopes of a 18th state tournament appearance.
Jenna Krakowski, Koch and Babat were all on the 2019 third-place state team - Koch as a freshmen, while current co-captains Krakowski and Babat were sophomores.
- Mike Garofola