Late heroics pull win out of the fire vs. Barrington

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By Gary Larsen

Less than three minutes after Fremd’s Kristin Abruscato tied Wednesday’s MSL game at Barrington with a free kick taken from the parking lot, the Vikings’ Ashley McConnell swooped in on her white horse and played the hero.

On a night when Fremd coach Steve Keller thought his girls played less than intelligent soccer, sophomore defender McConnell did the smartest thing she could have done, taking the ball on a 70-yard trip to the end line with roughly two minutes left in the game.

“When a defender gets forward the other team can get caught off-balance a little bit,” Keller said. “That was all McConnell.”

McConnell’s timely jaunt ended when she served a ball towards the goal, where teammate Caroline Wagner gathered it and sent it back out towards Michelle Mottonen. Mottonen took a touch along the top of the box and hammered a shot inside the post from 22 yards out, with only 1:50 left to play.

“I was really excited. I knew what I had to do there,” Mottonen said of her fifth goal of the season. “Hit it as hard as I could and hope for the best. I knew their keeper was in the middle and I trust my right foot so I went far post.”

Game, set, match in an improbable 2-1 win for Fremd (6-1, 4-1), and a fairly stunning defeat for a Barrington (5-3-1, 3-1-1) team that had a 1-0 win in its clutches only to have it ripped away in the game’s waning moments.

“We could have finished the game off earlier but I’m happy with the chances we were able to create,” Barrington coach Ryan Stengren said. “I’m happy with the effort and the amount of chances we got, but when you get a team down 1-0 that second goal is the difference.  But I’m happy that we generated chances today, it was a good battle by two teams. I don’t think we gave up a lot of chances.”

A first half played mainly between the 18’s offered little danger to either Fremd keeper Shannon Norris or Barrington keeper Kelly Pedersen. Mottonen served up a free kick from the edge of the penalty area at 24 minutes that Barrington’s Emmelie Hirdes cleared from a crowd, leading to a pair of Fremd corner kicks and a shot sent wide of net.

At 30 minutes Barrington sent a ball over the top that resulted in a rough collision between Hyde and a charging Norris. Both sprawled to the turf but Norris scrambled to her feet and made a nifty save on a good rip from the Fillies’ Molly Pfeiffer.

One minute later, Fremd’s Elise Kotsakis tore up the right side of Barrington’s penalty area and let fly but Pedersen was there to save it at the near post. Fremd’s Emily Basten cleared a corner kick taken by the Fillies’ Mia Calamari a minute after that and the scoreless tie held to halftime.

“I think we were pretty evenly-matched,” Mottonen said. “We knew how hard this game was going to be. We knew we’d have to come out hard and that they were going to be ready to play us. It’s tough to play them and we really wanted this win.”

At 55 minutes, Fremd’s Alexis Tice sent a ball to teammate Kira Heggeland that Heggeland hit off the post, and it was Barrington freshman Calamari who finally broke the ice at 57 minutes, curling a free kick from 25 yards out to the side netting inside the far post.

Truth be told, Barrington found more golden scoring opportunities than Fremd on Wednesday. Sara Condon and Emily Hyde had a pair of prime scoring opportunities on their feet in the second half but the ball refused to cooperate.

“That was the best we’ve done so far,” Hyde said. “That’s the most (cohesive) we’ve been in any game so far. Our forwards were making penetrating runs and playing with three up top helped us. We were able to get behind the defenders a few times.”

Barrington has won four 1-0 games this season and tied 0-0 against Hersey on Monday. Calamari, Hirdes, Dana Kopp, and Morgan Stachura in front of Pedersen had only give up 7 goals in 8 games heading in against Fremd.

And it wasn’t as though the visiting Vikings had been finding dangerous shots with much frequency. Fremd went into Wednesday’s game on the heels of 8-0 and 4-0 wins over Hoffman Estates and Buffalo Grove, respectively, and put 24 goals on the board in 6 games.

Fremd’s first 20 minutes against Buffalo Grove were the best 20 minutes of attacking soccer Keller has seen his side play this season, but the Vikings struggled to string passes together against Barrington.

“I don’t feel that we played particularly well,” Keller said. “We played unintelligently and that was frustrating to watch, especially on a big field where you’ve got room and you’ve got time. So I feel very fortunate. I told the girls that it’s a good sign that you can play poorly and win. We did fight back but there’s a lot of growth that we need to go through. I’m not discouraged. I just don’t think we brought our best. Kids just weren’t looking to combine with each other.”

Barrington has been occasionally haunted by set piece goals this year, and the Fillies’ lead held until Abruscato set up for a 45-yard free kick with roughly five minutes left to play.

“We’d been telling the girls to test the keeper because we didn’t test her. We had one shot in the first half where she had to make a save, and that was it,” Keller said. “With the wind a little bit, we told (Abruscato) to have a go and it worked out.”
 
Abruscato sized up the possibility and hit her kick.

“The goalie didn’t seem set so I quick-shot it and hoped somebody was running in,” Abruscato said. “When I saw her backing up into the net I knew at that point it was on frame and hopefully going in. Last year I think I hit one from the thirty so this one was definitely farther.”

The shot traveled a high arc before barely touching the underside of the crossbar and falling to the back netting, tying the game. “That was phenomenal,” Mottonen said. “I know (Abruscato) gets really intense when we need her to, when the game is urgent, and I know we can count on her to put one in.”

McConnell’s wild run came three minutes later, capped by Wagner’s pass and Mottonen’s game-winner, stunning fans and players for both teams.

“Two goals in three minutes? Oh, boy,” Stengren said. “It’s a weird sport. But we need to better at crunch time because that’s been a flaw for us. I’m not disappointed with the performance. We just need to do a little bit better in both boxes.”

Stengren lauded Pfeiffer’s work rate and was similarly pleased with the day’s work put in up top from Hyde and Condon. Hyde liked the intensity her side showed throughout.

“The energy on the bench and on the field was really good and that’s the good thing about our team,” Hyde said. “The energy carries throughout. People coming in off the bench work just as hard as the starters on the field, and we have a deep bench. I feel like everyone put their effort in today.”

Fremd got solid performances from a few different quarters as well.

“I thought Jennifer Freeman in back had a solid, solid game, so did McConnell, and in the second half Alexis Tice picked her game up,” Keller said. “She was a physical presence in the second half.”

Barrington plays at Elk Grove on Monday while Fremd takes on Wheeling on Monday and Rolling Meadows on Wednesday before both teams begin play in the Naperville Invitational.

“Barrington is a really good team. We just need to settle down and play like we can,” Absruscato said. “We’ve been putting everything into practice and we just need to keep working on the things we need to work on.”