Chicagoland Soccer

Barrington's pace, depth too much for Cougars
By Mike Garofola

Maybe something can be said for a difficult non-conference schedule.

Ryan Stengren thinks so and Jason Franco is a believer -- especially after what he watched Friday night.

Barrington's high-profile fixtures against elite programs Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley gave the Fillies a taste of what the best can be, and when they met another one of the best in Conant, they hardly batted an eye.

The Fillies (7-3-0, 6-0-0) thrust themselves into the division race of the MSL West after a superb 80 minutes of soccer, defeating previously unbeaten and and West-leading Conant (8-1-0, 5-1-0) to take over the top spot of the table of the MSL and end a terrific week of competition.

The Fillies now stand alone with 18 points, 3 points clear of Conant (15) and 8 points over Schaumburg, which drew 1-1 with Buffalo Grove at the same time Barrington cemented its three-goal victory.

"People might say we’re crazy to be playing such a tough early schedule every year, and at times I have to wonder how sane it really is,” Stengren said. “But although we struggled at times against those teams I really feel it helps prepare us to play our best against one of -- if not the toughest -- soccer conferences in the state,

Stengren has now watched his club defeat a pair of previously undefeated teams in the last half of the past week. The Fillies also won 3-0 over Buffalo Grove on Wednesday.

"Quite frankly, I was a little worried about this game, just because of Barrington's schedule and how it likely had them a little bit more prepared for a game this important," said Conant head coach Jason Franco, whose club hosts Schaumburg on Monday, in a match that could send one of them farther behind in the division standings.

"We played a great St. Charles North team, but that was in our first week of the season,” Franco said. “(Barrington) has already played three of the best in the state, and it showed tonight.

"They looked a little bit more prepared and ready to go, their pace and energy was way up there, and in the end they were clearly the best team out there and deserved the result they got."

This was just the result the Fillies were looking for to cap a strong week, while setting them up for yet another week of tough opponents. They play one of the best in the MSL East on Wednesday against Elk Grove, followed by Saint Viator the next evening as the Naperville Invitational gets under way.

"It would be easy to get really excited after this win tonight, but the fact is there's still 5 games left on our schedule for the MSL, and each team we play is capable of beating us or anyone else on any given night,” Barrington junior Molly Pfeiffer said. “So we won't be taking any of them lightly, and we’ll take them one game at a time."

Pfeiffer, who was obviously less than 100% with a cold and flu, played as if she were one of those cartoon superheroes, scoring once, assisting on the Fillies’ other two, and playing box-to-box from start to finish.

"Molly was just amazing in my opinion," Stengren said.

"She's been sick, but you would never know it. She came back and defended, won balls, tackled, and offered a lot of support and energy to our attack, but to be honest, I really felt Samantha Frank is the real reason that we won tonight."

Stengren gave the senior Frank her biggest task of the season thus far, and that was to man-mark the brilliant two-time all-state player Courtney Raetzman. Except for a few occasions, the senior Raetzman was not able to find much space or time to work her magic in order to fuel the Cougars’ vaunted attack.

"We did a lot of things out there with the way we defended, but I just tried to do my best against Courtney tonight," said the modest Frank, who along with her mates along the back were water-tight all evening long. Barrington allowed just a few chances on frame at freshmen keeper Hannah Luedtke, who recorded a rather easy clean sheet when it was over.

"We always had the same back four last year, but everyone is gone from that team, so just about everyone there is new this year,” Pfeiffer said. “But we can bring in fresh legs, and each player can step in and play just as well as the other."

Franco agreed that Barrington played well in boxing up the Kentucky-bound Raetzman.

"That's the best anyone has defended Courtney in a long while, but the rest of my team never found their pace, and that made things that much worse for us, and much better for Barrington," Franco said.

Despite playing into a strong wind, it was all one-way traffic for the visiting Fillies, who surged into the lead at the quarter hour before doubling their lead two minutes later. It was a lead which could have easily been three or four if not for a couple of sensational goal-saving stops by the Cougars’ freshman keeper, Hailey Anderson.

Having withstood considerable pressure in the early stages, the home-side would concede the first goal of the match when Ellie Ackermann finished in close what Pfeiffer started, and -- after Anderson and a defender collided -- spilling a free ball into the 6-yard box.

Ackermann, who at times was the lone striker for Barrington, turned in a strong performance up top, running hard at the Cougars’ backline to create pressure while not allowing Kelsey Foss, Drew Wentzel and Kim Trinco to get forward, or provide some of their trademark service out of the back.

"Barrington was fit, and had so much more pace than we did, so we never seemed to have time on the ball at all," Franco said.

Anna Burnidge scored her second goal in as many games when her back-post run found the senior alone and able to finish a nifty flick from Pfeiffer, who took Mia Calamari's long throw and turned it around and into a Fillies’ score.

"We scored all three goals because we never stopped running, and that's kind of how we played on both ends tonight as well," said Pfeiffer.

Anderson would read what was happening in front of her perfectly, in order to stop Aimee Pierce’s point-blank attempt at the far post at 10 minutes, then literally climb the post to her left to push Calamari's long-range serve over the bar later on.

The young Conant duo of Bianca Madonia and Leah Celarek forced some close attention from the Fillies, as the sophomore-freshman pair did their best to help inspire and fuel the Cougars and to get Raetzman the ball

But on this night, the formidable Conant attack could not match the quality of its opponent.

"(Barrington) was very good tonight, but the thing that impressed me so much was their overall depth," began Franco. "They just never seemed to miss a beat every time they brought somebody on, so when we got tired, we just couldn't match the fresh legs Ryan brought on.

"If they continue to play like that, they are going to be very difficult to beat."

Despite the two-goal deficit, the Cougars came out alive and with plenty of spirit after the intermission and would enjoy the run of play as the second period got under way.

Showing they could get back to playing attractive, possession soccer with some bite, the home-side ventured forward in search of halving the Fillies’ lead. Trinco went over the bar with an attempt on frame and a scrum in the area resulted in the Fillies forced into clearing a dangerous ball sent in from Raetzman.

"But we never were able to get anything serious at their keeper all night," bemoaned Franco.

Luedtke went high in the air to catch a long freekick from Foss near the hour mark, but by then the script on this finish had already been written.

Pfeiffer made it 3-0 at 72 minutes when she followed a fierce freekick from Calamari -- a wicked 30-yard missile in which Anderson initially stopped - but the pace was too hot to handle, leaving a sitter for the ever-present Pfeiffer.

"I felt that our backline didn't play as well as it could against Buffalo Grove, but tonight Emily Morin, Abby Taplett, Sam (Frank) and all the others who we played back there tonight kept their shape, stayed organized, and played together well," said Stengren.

"We did well as a group, especially when we took turns passing off Courtney from one to another, from time-to-time, so it was a good win for us,” Frank said. “But we're all reminded it's just one game, of many more out there we'll need to win.”