Barrington staves off SCE to advance
By Mike Garofola
BARRINGTON -- Barrington booked its berth in today's Naperville Invitational semifinal with a hard-fought 2-0 victory Thursday night over St. Charles East at Barrington Community Stadium.
Next up for the no. 6 Fillies will be second-ranked Naperville Central at 5 p.m. in the first of two semifinal matches played at the host Redhawks stadium.
The Fillies have one foot in the final of this high-profile tournament, thanks in part to second half goals from Kate Lubinsky, and sophomore Kaitlin Taylor, who continues to score in key moments in just her first year with the first team.
"(The) game could have gone either way," began Fillies manager Ryan Stengren.
"We certainly gave up our share of chances, which down the road is not a recipe for success. But we build, learn from a game like this, be more prepared when we're in a game like this later on."
"Yes, both teams had chances to score," said St. Charles East manager Vince DiNuzzo, whose club is now 13-4-0. “They finished their chances, and we did not.
"The play in the middle tonight was not as smooth as I believe both sides would have liked. Some of that was due to (Barrington) playing the night before, and us just coming off a very physical match with St. Charles North."
"Both teams have played a lot of games of late, and that takes a toll on the players. It showed tonight," said Stengren.
After a goal-less first half, Taylor bagged the eventual game-winner just minutes after the intermission. Lubinsky doubled the Fillies advantage 11 minutes later with Taylor earning the helper.
DiNuzzo immediately went with four forwards in his quest to halve.
"We had nothing to lose at that point,” he said. “The change in our shape in the attack made a lot of sense for us. We were much more dangerous in the counter and were able to create a few more chances. But again, the ability to finish chances is something we'll need to improve going forward."
Both DiNuzzo and Stengren sang the praises of St. Charles East senior Libby Thomas.
"Libby was someone that had a high work rate for 80 minutes, caused some problems for their backline and was able to create chances with her ability to take players on," said DiNuzzo.
"No. 14 (Thomas) played at a very high level. (Vince) moved her around, and she did really well wherever she was," said Stengren, who highlighted Lubinsky, Taylor and Nicole Gwiasda as three of his top players on the night.
"We didn't recognize their switch to four up-top right away, so we were not able to manage that 2-0 advantage we had. Again, we'll learn from it, and correct things when we get back to training.
"I am very happy for the girls. They played hard and fought through some difficult times. That was a good thing to see them work through."
By Mike Garofola
BARRINGTON -- Barrington booked its berth in today's Naperville Invitational semifinal with a hard-fought 2-0 victory Thursday night over St. Charles East at Barrington Community Stadium.
Next up for the no. 6 Fillies will be second-ranked Naperville Central at 5 p.m. in the first of two semifinal matches played at the host Redhawks stadium.
The Fillies have one foot in the final of this high-profile tournament, thanks in part to second half goals from Kate Lubinsky, and sophomore Kaitlin Taylor, who continues to score in key moments in just her first year with the first team.
"(The) game could have gone either way," began Fillies manager Ryan Stengren.
"We certainly gave up our share of chances, which down the road is not a recipe for success. But we build, learn from a game like this, be more prepared when we're in a game like this later on."
"Yes, both teams had chances to score," said St. Charles East manager Vince DiNuzzo, whose club is now 13-4-0. “They finished their chances, and we did not.
"The play in the middle tonight was not as smooth as I believe both sides would have liked. Some of that was due to (Barrington) playing the night before, and us just coming off a very physical match with St. Charles North."
"Both teams have played a lot of games of late, and that takes a toll on the players. It showed tonight," said Stengren.
After a goal-less first half, Taylor bagged the eventual game-winner just minutes after the intermission. Lubinsky doubled the Fillies advantage 11 minutes later with Taylor earning the helper.
DiNuzzo immediately went with four forwards in his quest to halve.
"We had nothing to lose at that point,” he said. “The change in our shape in the attack made a lot of sense for us. We were much more dangerous in the counter and were able to create a few more chances. But again, the ability to finish chances is something we'll need to improve going forward."
Both DiNuzzo and Stengren sang the praises of St. Charles East senior Libby Thomas.
"Libby was someone that had a high work rate for 80 minutes, caused some problems for their backline and was able to create chances with her ability to take players on," said DiNuzzo.
"No. 14 (Thomas) played at a very high level. (Vince) moved her around, and she did really well wherever she was," said Stengren, who highlighted Lubinsky, Taylor and Nicole Gwiasda as three of his top players on the night.
"We didn't recognize their switch to four up-top right away, so we were not able to manage that 2-0 advantage we had. Again, we'll learn from it, and correct things when we get back to training.
"I am very happy for the girls. They played hard and fought through some difficult times. That was a good thing to see them work through."