Chicagoland Soccer

Huskies top Barrington on late Pietro goal
By Dan Santaromita

Hersey’s typical style of sitting back and countering on quality opponents is no secret to area teams. Results like the one the Huskies’ picked up Wednesday night in Barrington show why it doesn’t matter that they are predictable.

Hersey picked up a 1-0 victory to hand the hosts their first Mid Suburban League loss in what could be a preview of the MSL Cup. Lauren Gierman assisted Nicole Pietro to score the winner with just over nine minutes remaining.

The Huskies (14-3-2, 7-1 MSL) stayed five points clear of Buffalo Grove in the East. Conant received a lifeline in the West thanks to the Barrington loss. Both the Cougars and Fillies (11-4) are 8-1 in league play.

Pietro's goal also broke Barrington's streak of eight consecutive shutouts.

Both teams had stretches of possession with the ball in the first half, though Barrington enjoyed more of the run of play in the second. Hersey picked up the win by catching the Barrington defense off guard and remaining strong at the back.

“I think Hersey was exactly how Hersey’s m.o. is,” Barrington coach Ryan Stengren said. “They’re going to defend very well and they’re going to counter attack and they’re very effective at. We knew exactly what was going to happen before the game even started...We have to make a play and we didn’t make a play. You’ve got to get the lead against them so they have to come out of their shell.”

Hersey coach Brad Abel said it was a playoff-type game.

“I thought second half there were periods of time where they had good control and we were weathering the storm, especially the last few minutes,” Abel said. “We kept our shape, we kept composed, we countered when we needed to counter and it was a nice goal that we finished.”

Neither team put many shots on goal and most of those weren’t any challenge for the goalkeepers, Barrington’s Hannah Luedtke (4 saves) and Hersey’s Morgan Harris (7 saves).

Barrington’s most threatening play came in the 17th minute off a cross from Aimee Pierce on the left side. Impressive freshman Jenna Szczesny headed the cross goalward and hit the crossbar. The rebound bounced to a similar spot, but Szczesny wasn’t able to win the loose ball.

Szczesny put multiple shots on target, including one in the 60th minute that came from outside the box and was hit about as hard as you can hit a ball. The freshman absolutely crushed the shot, but it was low and right at Harris.

“Every team is different, but some teams shoot from out far so I’m used to it, but my defense doesn’t let them come in close,” Harris said. “I’d rather them shoot from far our than right at me.”

Harris’ confidence in her defense comes with good reason. The Huskie back four of Kaitlyn Smetana, Sara Magnuson, Kayla Knauss and Olivia Stasiuk shut down the talented Barrington attack.

Fillies’ standout junior Molly Pfeiffer wasn’t getting touches in dangerous positions up top and moved to a midfield role during parts of the game.

“We knew we were going to have to put a lot of pressure on her, but I think our back line did a great job,” Pietro said. “We had Megan Boyle on her and Megan always does a great job one-on-one marking. (Pfeiffer) is great in the air, but so is Boyle so I think she did a great job equalizing that.”

Hersey scored off what initially appeared to be an innocuous throw-in in the Fillies’ third. Casey Weyrich threw short to Gierman on the right wing. Gierman got to the end line and hit a perfect pass to the feet of Pietro, who had enough space to finish off with a low shot.

Pietro said the Huskies are comfortable winning games late.

“We knew they were going to be a really physical team and obviously we knew they would be fast and strong, but I think we have unique things that other teams don’t have,” the senior midfielder said. “I consider us to be very deep and we have good fitness and I think a lot of times when we take teams to the end of a game I feel confident.”

The Fillies mounted a furious attempt to equalize in the final minutes. Pfeiffer unleashed a turn-and-fire shot at the goal, but Harris dove to her left to tip the shot just wide. A pair of hectic corners followed, but eventually Hersey survived for the win.

“The last few minutes was a little stressful, but my defense always does well so I knew we could do it,” Harris said.

Abel knows the Huskies can’t celebrate for long.

“It was a nice win for us and we know we have more work to do and we know we have a huge game coming up against Buffalo Grove (on Friday), but we’ll enjoy this for tonight at least,” Abel said.

Barrington entered the match on an eight-game winning streak and hadn’t conceded a goal in the same stretch. Despite that run, Stengren has noticed a recent dip in his team’s play.

“Hopefully this is a positive for us because we’ve played two back-to-back games where we just haven’t brought our game for whatever reason,” he said.

The loss of Mia Calamari to injury has Stengren trying to find the right fit in the midfield. Pfeiffer, Megan Fox, Anna Burnidge and Abby Taplett shared duties in trying to fill the void.

It was the Fillies’ fifth match in eight days with at least two more coming this weekend in the Naperville Invitational. Of course, Stengren wouldn’t use that as an excuse, but he hopes the team wakes up from the loss.

“I never feel like a loss is good for you, but if it gets us to be refocused and hungrier again then it’ll work, then it’s a positive,” Stengren said. “This is not a team that can just rely on soccer talent alone. There’s a lot of little things that probably aren’t necessarily important, but for this team to be successful the little things are very, very important. If we’re not doing that stuff we’re going to be trying to scrap out games like this.”

After the Naperville Invitational the Fillies, which still control their destiny for a spot in the MSL Cup, close out MSL play with matches against Palatine and Prospect next week.