North Stars finish strong to beat Barrington

By Curt Herron

Eric Willson hasn't been too pleased by the way that his St. Charles North squad has started some of its matches.

And while Wednesday's contest at Barrington would fall into that company, the North Stars coach definitely liked what he saw after that.

The North Stars spotted the Broncos a quick 1-0 advantage in the teams' Barrington Classic second-round matchup but didn't let that get them down.

North scored three goals during the second half to claim a 3-1 victory over Barrington, allowing it to improve to 1-1 in the competition.

"I was happy with about 75 minutes of our effort," Willson said. "We continue to really struggle in the first part of either a game or in the second half and I don't know if it's energy or focus.

"But in the first five minutes we got ourselves into a pretty big hole and that's tough do against a school like Barrington on its own field. So it was a long road to try to get back into the game.

"I'm certainly proud of the way that the guys fought back together. All in all, for this being game four of the season, I'm pretty pleased with the way that we're playing."

The comeback began shortly after the break, included a controversial penalty kick midway through and was capped by a late nice goal.

With 36:26 remaining, Noah Anthony sent a corner in front of the net and Dan Figura knocked in a short shot to even the score.

"After losing against New Trier we knew that we had to come out strong in order to win this game since Barrington is a good team," Figura said. "So we just went with it and knew what we had to do.

"What happened to us in the first five minutes has happened a lot of times. But we used positive encouragement and told everyone to keep their heads up and we started to get some offensive pressure.

"After I scored, it was like a domino effect and everyone was pumped up. The main thing that we need is team chemistry. Everyone has to be united since that's what makes things happen on the field."

Following that score, Angelo Catalano sent in a free kick for the North Stars (2-2) that was stopped by Broncos keeper Will Cotopolis.

Around the same time, the Broncos (1-3) received a shot on goal from Greg Navitsky as well as a header that he helped to set up.

Anthony then had a pair of good chances, sending a header to Cotopolis and then firing off a hard shot attempt.

The big break for the North Stars came with 23:17 left when one of their players went down in the box and they were awarded a penalty kick.

Catalano proceeded to place the PK into the lower corner of the net and North suddenly had a lead that it wouldn't relinquish.

Barrington tried to answer with a pair of good chances, but North Stars keeper Zach Hosler was up to the challenge.

First he stopped a header by Taylor Williams and then a few minutes later halted a liner by Mike Moynahan.

The North Stars had the best chances during the final 12 minutes as a line drive by James Reed and a header by James Mrotek were stopped.

North wrapped things up with 5:25 remaining when Mike Winhoffer got free in front and fired off a hard shot for the evening's final goal.

"We kind of felt that 35 minutes of the first half were fantastic and we just needed to have more of that," Willson said. "I thought that our chances were coming and we just needed to be patient.

"We really wanted to solidify a solid defensive effort and we thought the rest would kind of come and it did. Then we got pretty fortunate with the penalty kick and we capitalized on that."

In the opening half, Barrington grabbed the early lead in the fifth minute when Joe Micci connected following a pass from Navitsky.

The Broncos later received good scoring chances on a grounder from Navitsky and a line drive from Will Farrell.

North had several good opportunities but wasn't able to find the net during the late stages of the opening half.

Anthony had a short shot try stopped and later sent in a corner kick that had to be cleared away by a Bronco defender.

"We really got off to a slow start and gave up an early goal," Anthony said. "But then we really came together as a team and started knocking the ball around and I think that changed the momentum.

"Then we got that first goal right away in the second half and that helped us out a lot. We were disappointed after yesterday's loss since we didn't play our best so we really wanted to bounce back.

"Our chemistry has gotten a lot better during the past week. We all like each other a lot and that helps us to play together really well and that's all that matters."

Man of the match: Mike Winhoffer

By Curt Herron

Mike Winhoffer made his presence felt in several different ways for St. Charles North on Wednesday.

The sophomore played a big role in helping the North Stars rally from a 1-0 halftime deficit against Barrington.

He not only stood out in the midfield but scored the nicest goal of the evening to wrap up his team's 3-1 victory.

"I thought that Mike was solid in the center of the midfield for us tonight," North coach Eric Willson said. "He really helped dictate what we wanted to do."

Following Tuesday's 3-1 loss to New Trier in opening round play in the Barrington Classic, North viewed Wednesday's match as critical.

Despite allowing an early goal to the Broncos, the North Stars scored three times in the final half to improve to 2-2 on the season.

Winhoffer capped off the comeback when he got free in front of the net and fired off a fine-looking score with 5:25 remaining.

St. Charles North starters vs. Barrington

Barrington starters vs. St. Charles North