A classic case of so close,
yet so far away
Lake Zurich denies Barrington's attempt to lock up title berth
By Mike Garofola
BARRINGTON -- After opening with two wins and six points to stand atop the Red Group at the 26th annual Barrington Classic, the host Broncos placed themselves in terrific position heading into its final match of pool play against Lake Zurich last night.
A victory sent Scott Steib's lads into the final against Boylan (5-0-1); a draw would have done the same.
It sounded quite attainable.
However, Lake Zurich (4-2-0) had other ideas, and with opportunity knocking the Bears answered. Ian Murray and Collin Foote delivered first-half goals to dash the hopes of the Broncos in a 2-1 defeat to put Scott Steib's club in limbo for another day.
"I don't think we took anything for granted, that's for sure. Certainly not against an opponent like Lake Zurich," began Steib.
"We flat out did not play with a whole lot of purpose or urgency until we got back into it with that PK from Austin (Grzebieniak) very late.
"But I don't think we should need that type of situation to get us going. If the fact that you know going in what you have to do in order to get into the final isn't enough to get you going right from the start, then, well, I don't know."
The disappointed Broncos manager will now wait to see what happens this morning for St. Charles North.
The North Stars could draw even with Lake Zurich and the Broncos with six points each should they defeat Crystal Lake South. It then becomes a game of tie-breaker protocol where several potential scenarios could decide who will play Boylan at 6 p.m. tonight at the stadium field. It might actually come down to a coin flip.
During the early exchanges, it was clear which team had come to play. Lake Zurich's midfield unit of Jack Abry, and the aforementioned Muuray and Foote, showed plenty of resolve and pace in its game to help the Bears clearly outwork and outplay their hosts.
"Collin, Jack and myself have played together for a long time, and we know what to do in order to compete with teams like Barrington," began Murray.
"Tonight I felt that all of us played both sides of the ball really well, while counting on our backline to defend and connect with us to get our attack going the other way. For the most part tonight, we did just that."
Added Bears coach Mike Schmitz: "It was a terrific effort from everyone tonight. The guys in the back went 80 minutes hard, and our midfield play was key in us getting an important win and three points."
There was a lot of one-way traffic going in the direction of the Broncos end during the first half hour, except for a save off a long throw and flick from Barrington's Giles Phillips, who tested keeper George Maroudas once again in the 28th minute. That sandwiched a half-chance from Bronco Shawn Owen that was blocked on the way in.
"We didn't really do much in that first half except for a short sequence where it looked like we might be getting something going," admitted Steib.
Lake Zurich made their opponents pay for a poor decision to foul deep in its end just before intermission and gave Foote a chance to serve a dangerous freekick into the six-yard box.
The attempt spilled off Barrington's Jaime Diaz, and went freely into the box where Murray finished with a sublime touch.
"Those late goals can be killers, and I am glad it was for us," smiled Murray.
Just before the goal, the Broncos lost Phillips for the night with an ankle injury, which compounded the loss of their terrific senior backline star, Tyler Anderson, who left early, and never returned.
With a little bit of wind in its sails, the Broncos opened the second half much brighter than the first. Grzebieniak drove a freekick on frame at 42 minutes, and Ian Ford struck a nice shot from 30 yards that went over the woodwork.
While Barrington's efforts remained unanswered, Lake Zurich's Foote found a way. He needed just a few steps to gather enough space before driving a low, well-aimed smash past a diving Diaz to put Lake Zurich in front by two goals in the 65th minute.
"Getting that second goal at that time was big for us, but we made it a little interesting after that, didn't we?" said Schmitz.
When Barrington's Ryan Lauderback couldn't find his through on a center channel carry, the Bears tossed the Broncos a lifeline when they hauled down the junior. Moments later, Grzebieniak drove home his spot kick to pull Barrington back into the match.
The Broncos were never on the brink of finding the equalizer after that, despite spending most of the time in the Bears end during the final 10 minutes.
"Hans Pallan came in and gave us a bunch of quality minutes up top, and Kyle (Owen) did quite well in the role of playmaker to help rally us at times," Steib said. "But after that, I would be hard pressed to name others who made an imprint on the game."
"The thing about this team is they might be the best group that I've ever had as far as personalities, and them all getting along - and that says something about them when you consider some of the teams which have come through here.
"But maybe that's our problem. We get along so well, and are so nice (we) just don't get after it with that little extra bite you need to compete a little harder and stronger than your opponent in a game like this.
"We're all hoping that will come soon, because, again, it's a terrific group of young men to be around."
Starting lineups
Lake Zurich
GK: George Maroudas
D: Jacob Karbowski
D: Scott Shadrick
D: Dan Ross
D: Ian Root
MF: Jack Abry
MF: Ian Murray
MF: Collin Foote
MF: Collin Foreman
MF: Nate Rathe
F: Emil Iliev
Barrington
GK: Jaime Diaz
D: Tyler Anderson
D: Jason Frenk
D: Nash Pirie
D: Shawn Owen
MF: Giles Phillips
MF: Jack Harrington
MF: Casey Slingo
MF: Austin Grzebieniak
MF: Peyton Mohr
F: Kyle Owen
Man of the Match: Ian Murray, MF, Lake Zurich
Referee: Rich Grady.
yet so far away
Lake Zurich denies Barrington's attempt to lock up title berth
By Mike Garofola
BARRINGTON -- After opening with two wins and six points to stand atop the Red Group at the 26th annual Barrington Classic, the host Broncos placed themselves in terrific position heading into its final match of pool play against Lake Zurich last night.
A victory sent Scott Steib's lads into the final against Boylan (5-0-1); a draw would have done the same.
It sounded quite attainable.
However, Lake Zurich (4-2-0) had other ideas, and with opportunity knocking the Bears answered. Ian Murray and Collin Foote delivered first-half goals to dash the hopes of the Broncos in a 2-1 defeat to put Scott Steib's club in limbo for another day.
"I don't think we took anything for granted, that's for sure. Certainly not against an opponent like Lake Zurich," began Steib.
"We flat out did not play with a whole lot of purpose or urgency until we got back into it with that PK from Austin (Grzebieniak) very late.
"But I don't think we should need that type of situation to get us going. If the fact that you know going in what you have to do in order to get into the final isn't enough to get you going right from the start, then, well, I don't know."
The disappointed Broncos manager will now wait to see what happens this morning for St. Charles North.
The North Stars could draw even with Lake Zurich and the Broncos with six points each should they defeat Crystal Lake South. It then becomes a game of tie-breaker protocol where several potential scenarios could decide who will play Boylan at 6 p.m. tonight at the stadium field. It might actually come down to a coin flip.
During the early exchanges, it was clear which team had come to play. Lake Zurich's midfield unit of Jack Abry, and the aforementioned Muuray and Foote, showed plenty of resolve and pace in its game to help the Bears clearly outwork and outplay their hosts.
"Collin, Jack and myself have played together for a long time, and we know what to do in order to compete with teams like Barrington," began Murray.
"Tonight I felt that all of us played both sides of the ball really well, while counting on our backline to defend and connect with us to get our attack going the other way. For the most part tonight, we did just that."
Added Bears coach Mike Schmitz: "It was a terrific effort from everyone tonight. The guys in the back went 80 minutes hard, and our midfield play was key in us getting an important win and three points."
There was a lot of one-way traffic going in the direction of the Broncos end during the first half hour, except for a save off a long throw and flick from Barrington's Giles Phillips, who tested keeper George Maroudas once again in the 28th minute. That sandwiched a half-chance from Bronco Shawn Owen that was blocked on the way in.
"We didn't really do much in that first half except for a short sequence where it looked like we might be getting something going," admitted Steib.
Lake Zurich made their opponents pay for a poor decision to foul deep in its end just before intermission and gave Foote a chance to serve a dangerous freekick into the six-yard box.
The attempt spilled off Barrington's Jaime Diaz, and went freely into the box where Murray finished with a sublime touch.
"Those late goals can be killers, and I am glad it was for us," smiled Murray.
Just before the goal, the Broncos lost Phillips for the night with an ankle injury, which compounded the loss of their terrific senior backline star, Tyler Anderson, who left early, and never returned.
With a little bit of wind in its sails, the Broncos opened the second half much brighter than the first. Grzebieniak drove a freekick on frame at 42 minutes, and Ian Ford struck a nice shot from 30 yards that went over the woodwork.
While Barrington's efforts remained unanswered, Lake Zurich's Foote found a way. He needed just a few steps to gather enough space before driving a low, well-aimed smash past a diving Diaz to put Lake Zurich in front by two goals in the 65th minute.
"Getting that second goal at that time was big for us, but we made it a little interesting after that, didn't we?" said Schmitz.
When Barrington's Ryan Lauderback couldn't find his through on a center channel carry, the Bears tossed the Broncos a lifeline when they hauled down the junior. Moments later, Grzebieniak drove home his spot kick to pull Barrington back into the match.
The Broncos were never on the brink of finding the equalizer after that, despite spending most of the time in the Bears end during the final 10 minutes.
"Hans Pallan came in and gave us a bunch of quality minutes up top, and Kyle (Owen) did quite well in the role of playmaker to help rally us at times," Steib said. "But after that, I would be hard pressed to name others who made an imprint on the game."
"The thing about this team is they might be the best group that I've ever had as far as personalities, and them all getting along - and that says something about them when you consider some of the teams which have come through here.
"But maybe that's our problem. We get along so well, and are so nice (we) just don't get after it with that little extra bite you need to compete a little harder and stronger than your opponent in a game like this.
"We're all hoping that will come soon, because, again, it's a terrific group of young men to be around."
Starting lineups
Lake Zurich
GK: George Maroudas
D: Jacob Karbowski
D: Scott Shadrick
D: Dan Ross
D: Ian Root
MF: Jack Abry
MF: Ian Murray
MF: Collin Foote
MF: Collin Foreman
MF: Nate Rathe
F: Emil Iliev
Barrington
GK: Jaime Diaz
D: Tyler Anderson
D: Jason Frenk
D: Nash Pirie
D: Shawn Owen
MF: Giles Phillips
MF: Jack Harrington
MF: Casey Slingo
MF: Austin Grzebieniak
MF: Peyton Mohr
F: Kyle Owen
Man of the Match: Ian Murray, MF, Lake Zurich
Referee: Rich Grady.