Good start, bad finish for Broncos

By Curt Herron

Things started out very well for the host Broncos in their Barrington Classic match against St. Charles North on Wednesday.

But the team's finish was another matter as the North Stars scored three times during the second half to claim a 3-1 victory.

While the loss drops the Broncos (1-3) to 0-2 in tournament play, coach Scott Steib was more bothered by his team's performance.

"We got off to a good start and then not so good," Steib said. "We had a real tough time defending from start to finish. Even though we were winning 1-0 at the half we were fortunate to have a clean sheet.

"We're just out of sorts and I'm very confused because this was our fourth match and it was our worst match and that's not the direction that we wanted to be heading. That's hy this was a frustrating match.

"So we've got some things to look at and we'll have to play a lot better than this. I still think that this team has enough to be competitive in the MSL but we need to use these games to make improvements."

Barrington took the lead in the fifth minute when Greg Navitsky set up Joe Micci for their squad's lone goal of the evening.

During the rest of the first half, other Bronco threats came on a grounder by Navitsky and later on a line drive by Will Farrell.

Meanwhile, the North Stars (2-2) turned up the heat shortly before the break, forcing a stop by keeper Will Cotopolis as well as a defensive clear.

St. Charles North evened things up with 36:26 remaining when Dan Figura made a short shot following a corner kick by Noah Anthony.

A short time later Navitsky got another shot on goal and later sent in a pass that resulted in a header that was stopped.

The North Stars continued to apply the pressure but Cotopolis stopped a header and then a hard shot by Anthony.

After a St. Charles North player went down in the box, a controversial penalty kick was awarded to the visitors.

With 23:17 left in the match, Angelo Catalano put the PK into the lower corner to give the North Stars a 2-1 lead.

The Broncos tried to answer but a header by Taylor Williams and a liner by Mike Moynahan were stopped by keeper Zach Hosler.

In the late going, the North Stars stepped things up as Cotopolis had to make saves on good chances by James Reed and James Mrotek.

Then with 5:25 left, Mike Winhoffer scored his North's most artistic goal of the evening to effectively wrap up his team's win.

"We were unlucky on their first goal since we had a kid swing and miss," Steib said. "We've had a handful of this year. It sounds like I'm whining, but we've given up some strange goals this season.

"On their second goal, I thought that the ball was off the field of play altogether so that's not a penalty. I don't think this team is good enough to overcome too much of that kind of adversity.

"Their third goal was really good and if they finish in the first hal this is probably a fair score. You could tell that we were real disheartened in the last half hour of the game but we'll be back."

2009 Schedule

Barrington starters vs. St. Charles North