Barrington finishes a rough season with pride

By Gary Larsen

Cut any one of them open and a Barrington soccer player will bleed red.

Broncos red.

"The only difference between this team and any other team I’ve had is we didn’t win as many games this year," Barrington coach Scott Steib said. "But this has been a great group of kids.”

Barrington left its blood, sweat, and tears on the carpet of Lake Zurich’s home field on Saturday, in a 5-0 loss in a regional title game that ended the Broncos' season.

At 7-15-2, the Broncos had little reason to expect a win over the Bears, an 18-4 team featuring three Division I players that can seem like a pack of greyhounds turned loose on the pitch.

Still, Barrington did expect to win. The Broncos struggled for wins this season, but they were playing their best soccer of 2009 heading into Saturday’s contest, on the heels of their first 3-game winning streak of the season.

Lake Zurich's attack put an end to that streak.

Scoring chances came here and there for Barrington, but the Bears put 17 shots on net and sent another 10 high and wide. Broncos’ goalkeeper Will Cotopolis made 10 saves and the boys in back gave it their all in the face of a Bears’ attack that can be downright electrifying.

Michigan State-bound Tim Kreutz scored twice and hit a post, Brenden Seeger netted two goals, and Brett Harper added a goal for the Bears.

“That’s a very good team, and as good an attacking team as I’ve seen,” Steib said of Lake Zurich. “They had some early losses this year that are meaningless. I think they knew that by the end of the year they’d put it together.”

“I told our guys at halftime that they can do this to some very good teams, so don’t hang your heads.”

When it was over, Barrington’s players found that difficult to do. Broncos were lying on the ground and sitting on the bench with their faces in their hands. Some crouched, heads down. No one said much, and here and there players hugged briefly like distraught brothers.

High school soccer seasons never last long enough for seniors. After jogging to the stands to thank their fans for a season’s worth of support, Barrington’s seniors stood in a half-circle around a reporter, shuffled there by Steib to answer questions. There wasn’t a dry eye among them.

They were asked to talk about the way the team came together to play its best soccer at the end of the year. Five minutes after your season ends you’re not much for talking, however, and the question was met with silence.

Then Tim Rudnicki spoke up. Rudnicki injured his knee before the season started and didn’t play a single minute this season. But he was a team captain last year and in his final public act on behalf of Barrington soccer, he answered the question.

“The first six weeks of the season were really rough for us,” Rudnicki said. “Then we switched formations and we finally started putting in goals. We were getting more chances.

We started going into every game believing that we had a chance to win. It was a lot of fun to come out and at least know that, over the last few weeks, we had that belief and that confidence. It made the rest of the year a whole lot more fun.”

Rudnicki departs Steib’s program along with seniors Greg Navitsky, Ryan Foley, Marc Drouin, Will Farrell, Tony Shin, and Andrew Krissinger. Goalkeepers Cotopolis and Steve Polasik return next year, along with Saturday’s starters in Dan Barber, Joe Micci, David Pacheco, Grant McAndrew, Taylor Williams, and Eric Buchel.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Steib said. “They stayed together and they care. It’s easy to stop caring when things aren’t going well, but they’ve cared all year.”

“They’re warriors. That’s what Ryan (Foley) and Will (Farrell) are like – just hard-nosed kids. Will’s 145 pounds but he’s got the heart of a lion. And Marc Drouin ends up being tied for our lead in goals, and he’s our left back. It was his first year on varsity and he’s been absolutely fantastic.”

Steib continued to cite the value of his departing seniors.

“Greg (Navitsky) was our most technical player, and Tony Shin was very versatile," he said. "Andrew Krissinger scored the tying goal the other day (vs. Cary-Grove) and Marc Drouin had the game-winner -- we’ll miss our seniors for sure, in terms of leadership. They’ve been great kids.”

“We’ve missed Tim (Rudnicki) on the field all year and we’ll miss him next year, too.”

Barrington’s seniors were a good reminder on Saturday of how much soccer can mean to high school players. “They just didn’t want it to end,” Steib said. “It’s not the score they’re disappointed over. It’s that the season is all over.”

Disappointment fades, but there’s a level of allegiance to their alma maters that never quite goes away for high school players. Last year’s all-everything player at Barrington was Ata Ozbay, now a freshman playing for Wisconsin. He recently called Steib on the phone.

“He said ‘coach, I miss it’,” Steib said. “This is about more than just playing soccer. It’s a heavy jersey, the Barrington jersey, and they wore it with pride this year. I’m proud of my guys.”

Barrington's 2009 results
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Postseason play