Broncos post first shutout, improve to 2-1 in MSL play

By Gary Larsen

There is no dark cloud hanging over Barrington’s soccer team this year, and no unbearable weight of depression being carried on the shoulders of its players.

There’s just an exceptional group of teenagers, taking on a difficult season like young men.

“It’s the brotherhood we have. We stay together,” said Broncos senior Greg Navitsky. “It’s a great group of guys.”

Struggle probably never builds character as much as it reveals it, and despite the Broncos' losing record heading into Thursday’s home game against MSL foe Buffalo Grove, they've revealed much to Barrington coach Scott Steib.

“At 1-8-1 I would have thought it might drive me to the grave, because I hate losing,” Steib said. “But it’s not as bad just because of this group. This is as good a group as we’ve ever had. The only thing that’s different is our record.”

How far hard work and optimism can get a team is unclear, but this year’s Broncos are fixing to find out. Their 1-0 win over the Bison was certainly a step in the right direction.

“The most encouraging thing about this game is that we created as many chances tonight as we have in the last three weeks,” Steib said. “We’ve spent a lot of time in practice this year on tactics and finishing.”

Taylor Williams’ second-half goal on a centering pass from Eric Buchel was one of many chances that Williams and front-running mate David Pacheco managed to send on frame.

“We were able to work it wide and get it forward,” Navitsky said. “We found Taylor six or seven times tonight. He finished the one that mattered.”

Navitsky was one of the key cogs in helping create those chances.

“Greg Navitsky is probably our most technical player. We were playing him at outside back because we had some injuries, but he’s creative and crafty and he’s doing great for us in the middle of the field,” Steib said.

The win moved the Broncos’ record to 2-1 in MSL play.

After struggling to score and keep goals out of net to start the season, positive signs began sprout for Barrington during last weekend’s Great Midwest Classic tournament in Indianapolis.

“I told them at halftime of their last game at Indianapolis that they were beginning to look like a soccer team,” Steib said. “There were times tonight when we’re doing some things that are a little haywire, but there were also times when we were doing all right.”

“There’s been a lot of growth in the last ten days. I think we finally figured out the (formation) that works for us. We’re not giving up blatant chances the way we had been.”

After tinkering with formations, Steib may have settled on the flat-back four in front of goalkeeper Will Cotopolis that earned the team’s first shutout of the year on Thursday.

Defenders Dan Barber, Ryan Foley, Will Farrell, and Marc Drouin were steady throughout, and Mason Gott also asserted himself in back when he entered the game.

“We’re finally getting him healthy and he’s only going to help us,” Steib said. “(Buffalo Grove) owned the air tonight and that’s a huge part of the game. But Mason was good in the air tonight and we’re happy to get him in the games.”

Barrington’s goal came in the game’s 43rd minute when Williams received Buchel’s pass in the box, spun, and fired from 14 yards out.

The final 10 minutes of play were typical of the wild-and-wooly finish of a heated conference game, with the Broncos and Cotopolis preserving the shutout in the face of Buffalo Grove’s hard push for a tying goal.

“That’s the first time we’ve reached halftime without giving up a goal,” Steib said.

“At 2-8-1 we’re not the most dangerous team in Cook or Lake County, but it’s a good win for us. We’re 2-1 in the conference so we’re certainly not written off there yet.

Ultimately we’re just trying to get to a place where we’re better in two weeks than we are right now, and better two weeks after that.”

With youth players from the Barrington Area Soccer Association (BASA) present in great numbers for Thursday’s game – there to be recognized for their instrumental contribution to Barrington’s high school program – the Broncos’ win was particularly sweet.

“After having a string of bad luck and unfortunate playing, it’s good to come out here and win a huge game in the conference on our home turf, especially in front of the BASA fans,” Navitsky said.

Man of the match: Eric Buchel

By Gary Larsen

If Barrington’s soccer team stormed a castle but couldn’t break down the door, Eric Buchel would volunteer to be a battering ram.

You know the type – a gritty lunch bucket player, always ready to mix it up and bring the fight.

“He goes hard, every play,” Barrington senior Greg Navitsky said of Buchel. “He works his butt off. He’s sparking us, and we needed a new spark.”

Outside midfielder Buchel brought his contagious brand of intensity to the field throughout the Broncos’ 1-0 win over visiting Buffalo Grove, tearing up and down the sideline and sticking his nose into the fray every chance he got.

It was also Buchel who hustled to a ball deep into the final third on the left side, and centered it to Taylor Williams for the game’s lone goal.

“We put a saying on the board tonight that said ‘don’t just bleed for your brother; bleed into him’,” Barrington coach Scott Steib said. “Be contagious. This kid comes out of nowhere and plays his heart out, and that’s contagious.”

The great lesson of Buchel’s story is one that every jayvee soccer player can take hope from: the call-up to varsity may be closer than you think.

Steib brought Buchel up from the jayvee squad just before last weekend’s Great Midwest Classic tournament in Indianapolis.

 “It was a surprise,” Buchel said. “I was just working hard on jayvee, trying to move up. But there was no indication that I was going to get moved up.”

“It’s much faster and a lot more physical. But when you’re playing with guys who are used to playing at that level, it brings you up to that level. Then you just find your little niche on the field.”

All the junior did in Indianapolis was bring Steib around to this conclusion: “He’s not coming off the field anymore,” Steib said.

“We needed teeth, a little bit of intensity. He defends hard, he works hard, and he assisted a goal tonight by just making a great run.”

Buchel plans to continue doing exactly what has drawn attention from the Broncos’s varsity staff and his teammates.

“Once one person brings that hard work, everyone starts to work harder,” Buchel said. “I’ve always just tried to bring my best out and work as hard as I can.”