Barrington playing well at the end of a rocky season

By Gary Larsen

First came a tie with Rolling Meadows, and then consecutive positive efforts against Schaumburg and Fremd.

Next was a 2-0 win and a bit of revenge in an MSL crossover against Rolling Meadows, and finally a 3-0 win on Saturday over Lake Park – the first game this season in which Barrington put three goals on the board.

Don’t look now, but after a rocky 2009 season Barrington is playing its best soccer of the season.

“We’re connecting a lot more, and we’re fighting,” Barrington senior Ryan Foley said. “We weren’t doing that at the beginning of the season. We’d give up an early goal and then kind of have our heads down.”

“We’ve gone into every game as the underdog. Today we went in as an underdog but proved we can compete with a good team.”

Barrington (6-14-2) came out pressuring hard to start Saturday’s game at Lake Park’s west campus. With Lake Park’s back line retreating, Broncos’ senior Will Farrell beat everyone to a ball sent forward and scored to cap a strong attacking spurt to start the game by Barrington.

After posting only 11 goals through its first 17 games, Barrington netted 10 goals in its final 5 contests of the regular season.

“We changed our system and we’re getting more chances,” Barrington coach Scott Steib said. “Will Farrell has been doing real well in the middle. He’s doing a lot of work for us, and Ryan (Foley) just plays hard.”

“And Greg Navitsky is one of our most important guys, too, because when he plays well, we do better.”

The 1-1 lead held to halftime, and Barrington deflated the host Lancers (10-10-4) with a pair of goals after the break.

Taylor Williams put the Lancers in a 2-goal hole with a head shot in the second half off a feed from Joe Micci, and Tony Shin sent a low drive tearing past the far post from 18 yards out soon thereafter.

Navitsky fed Shin for his first goal of the season. “You could you tell it was (Shin’s) first goal because of how happy everybody was,” Steib said.

With Will Cotopolis and Steve Polasik each spending a half in net for Barrington, the Broncos posted their 2nd consecutive shutout and their 5th of the season.

All 5 of those shutouts have come over the last 12 games of the year.

“A lot of it has been the communication. We’re more vocal with each other and we’re staying positive,” Barrington senior defender Marc Drouin said. “In the beginning of the season we were ragging on each other a little too much. But we’ve sorted things out.”

“We let in weak goals that should have never been let in. But we got that sorted out at the end of the season and it’s been paying off well.”

Barrington opens the postseason as the No. 3 seed of the Lake Zurich regional, and the Broncos will square off with No. 2 Cary-Grove on Tuesday.

They couldn’t be going into that game on a better note, on either side of the ball.

“Our center mids are playing through-balls and we’re finding each other,” Foley said. “We’re scoring more goals and we have a lot of confidence now. I think it will be a good game on Tuesday.

“It was great to come out with two wins right before playoffs,” Drouin said. “I thought in this game we really came out with energy, and we worked hard.”

Every year there are teams that get on a late roll in the regular season and surpass expectations in the postseason. Steib hopes his side is one of those this year.

 “I’ve been happy with my guys all year, although in a couple practices this year it might have looked like I wasn’t too happy,” Steib said. “But to lose as much as we have, when we’re not accustomed to that, and to stay together says a lot.

The second season starts now. Everybody’s 0-0. I know it’s cliché but it’s true. Everybody is starting over again.”

2009 Schedule
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