Rookie-heavy Barrington tops Prospect 2-0
Fillies earn 9th-straight MSL Soccer Bowl appearance
By Bill McLean
MOUNT PROSPECT — Prospect’s players celebrated Teacher Appreciation Night at halftime of their regular-season finale against visiting Barrington on Wednesday.
More than 40 minutes later — following Barrington’s 2-0 victory — Fillies sophomore back Ellie Sanchez was grateful for simply being a part of a program that clinched a ninth-straight Mid-Suburban League Soccer Bowl berth with the victory.
“Playing soccer for Barrington has been one of the greatest experiences of my life,” said team-first-me-second Sanchez, one of 14 Fillies (on a roster of 21) who made their varsity debut this spring. “I’m enjoying every bit of this ride. It’s like no other, this team. It has such a community feel.
“All I’ve been trying to do is uphold the tradition.”
Done.
Tradition-packed Barrington (11-1-2, 9-0-1 in the MSL), ranked no. 5 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25, has won eight-straight MSL Soccer Bowls under coach Ryan Stengren. Consider eight not enough for a program that captured Class 3A state titles in 2017, 2018 and finished as the runnerup in 2019.
The club shoots for a fine nine in a row Friday at no. 25 Buffalo Grove (9-4-3, 6-2-2), the East Division champion, beginning at 7 p.m.
The teams tied 1-1 at Barrington on May 5.
“When you miss a whole season (because of the pandemic in 2020), you lose the chance to watch and develop your building blocks,” said Stengren, whose crew struck for two goals in the first eight minutes at George Gattas Memorial Stadium on a night that started muggy and ended somewhat chilly. “So many of my varsity players had no idea what it takes to grind through a season and get to an MSL championship game. We have mature kids. But — and I’ve told them this — they’re not all that mature as soccer players at this point. They’ll get there.
“We came out tonight the way we wanted and scored those early goals. We should have scored three or four goals, with the ton of chances we ended up having. I know we can be more efficient with our finishing than we showed tonight.”
Fillies senior forward and Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Lara Lubinsky set an energetic tone with her speed and sheer will, particularly while dribbling hard to set up crosses. One cross kicked off a dizzying sequence that led to senior midfielder Jen Devona’s goal and another served as the assist on sophomore midfielder Brooke Brown’s tally.
“The ball ricocheted around inside the 18,” the DePaul-bound Devona said of the pinball action that preceded her goal. “How many times, I’m not sure.”
Devona then caught up to the loose ball just outside the six and beat Knights senior goalie Annie Ninness (11 saves, eight in the first half) in the sixth minute.
Two minutes later, a hard-charging Lubinsky returned to her comfort zone near a sideline, stopped and provided a textbook cross to Brown.
Brown — without any help from a UPS truck — delivered from close-range.
Boom, boom. Barrington 2, Prospect 0, just like that.
“They came out with energy in the first 10-15 minutes,” Prospect coach Tom Froats said. “You look at Barrington, you want to be where they’ll be on Friday night, playing for the MSL title. But the beautiful thing for us is the opportunity to compete in the second season (state playoffs).”
The winning goalkeeper was Indiana-bound Coast Liapis.
The busiest goalkeeper was Ninness, who snuffed out a couple of dangerous corner kicks by making high-point grabs.
“My mindset all night was, ‘Be aggressive,’” said Ninness, who plans to study biomechanical engineering at the University of Illinois. “Barrington is an aggressive team, so I wanted to match that aggressiveness. It’s also a physical team. I had to be brave, too.”
Froats had plenty of plaudits for his third-year varsity keeper.
“Strong all game,” the coach said. “She looked really, really good on the corners. She showed confidence.”
When the Fillies weren’t dictating matters in the final third, they were squelching the Knights’ forays at the other end of the pitch. Sanchez, senior Kate McGreevy and juniors Ella VanNess and Gracie Stagnito stifled here, disrupted there, frustrated everywhere.
Knights sophomore midfielder/forward Jillian Sawadski and junior midfielder Abby Knott demonstrated speed and grit for stretches. In the second half, Prospect’s most promising rush began with a pass from Knott to senior midfielder Grace Martin. Martin then fed senior forward Madison Culli.
“We created more opportunities in the second half,” Froats noted. “That was good to see. That was encouraging.”
Barrington’s superb playmaking abilities extended possessions and proved to be the difference Wednesday night. Devona, Lubinsky and Brown isn’t a law office; it's a trio blessed with firm passing skills.
Barrington landed the no. 1 seed in the Class 3A Huntley Sectional and hosts no. 16 Auburn on June 2 at 6 p.m.; Prospect, seeded no. 11 in the Class 3A Warren Sectional, visits no. 6 Highland Park (ranked no. 22 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25) on June 2 at 5:30 p.m.
Footnotes
Barrington’s Sanchez is the daughter of Joey and Wendy, a pair of Wheeling graduates. Joey is the head football coach at Barrington and served as the defensive coordinator of Barrington’s Class 6A state runner-up team in 1998. Wendy was a standout gymnast in high school. Stengren, on Sanchez, a first-year varsity booter: “She’s one of our best 1-v-1 defenders. She’s worked very hard, and she’s very good at winning 50/50 balls. Ellie has a great attitude.” … The teacher that Ninness invited to Teacher Appreciation Night on Wednesday was Mrs. Stanford, an economics instructor at Prospect. “She’s a nice teacher who establishes great relationships with her students,” the senior goalkeeper said. “I wasn’t really interested in econ. Mrs. Stanford made it interesting.” Ninness was a field player from second to fourth grade and started battling as a part-time keeper in fifth grade. “My best friend’s father played goalkeeper in college,” Ninness said. “That made me more interested in the position.”
Starting lineups
Barrington
GK Coast Liapis
D Ellie Sanchez
D Ella VanNess
D Kate McGreevy
D Gracie Stagnito
M Jen Devona
M Brooke Brown
M Nicole Gwiasda
F Riley Raynor
F Lara Lubinsky
F Kate Lubinsky
Prospect
GK Annie Ninness
D Jackie Keane
D Natalie Bouzas
D Isabella Hubrich
D Mia D’Onofrio
M Abby Knott
M Maggie Rosenburg
M Hannah Mekky
F Jillian Sawadski
F Madison Culli
F Kayley Bouzas
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Lara Lubinsky, sr., F, Barrington
Scoring summary
First half
Barrington — Devona (UA), 6’
Barrington — Brown (L. Lubinsky), 8’
Second half
No scoring
Fillies earn 9th-straight MSL Soccer Bowl appearance
By Bill McLean
MOUNT PROSPECT — Prospect’s players celebrated Teacher Appreciation Night at halftime of their regular-season finale against visiting Barrington on Wednesday.
More than 40 minutes later — following Barrington’s 2-0 victory — Fillies sophomore back Ellie Sanchez was grateful for simply being a part of a program that clinched a ninth-straight Mid-Suburban League Soccer Bowl berth with the victory.
“Playing soccer for Barrington has been one of the greatest experiences of my life,” said team-first-me-second Sanchez, one of 14 Fillies (on a roster of 21) who made their varsity debut this spring. “I’m enjoying every bit of this ride. It’s like no other, this team. It has such a community feel.
“All I’ve been trying to do is uphold the tradition.”
Done.
Tradition-packed Barrington (11-1-2, 9-0-1 in the MSL), ranked no. 5 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25, has won eight-straight MSL Soccer Bowls under coach Ryan Stengren. Consider eight not enough for a program that captured Class 3A state titles in 2017, 2018 and finished as the runnerup in 2019.
The club shoots for a fine nine in a row Friday at no. 25 Buffalo Grove (9-4-3, 6-2-2), the East Division champion, beginning at 7 p.m.
The teams tied 1-1 at Barrington on May 5.
“When you miss a whole season (because of the pandemic in 2020), you lose the chance to watch and develop your building blocks,” said Stengren, whose crew struck for two goals in the first eight minutes at George Gattas Memorial Stadium on a night that started muggy and ended somewhat chilly. “So many of my varsity players had no idea what it takes to grind through a season and get to an MSL championship game. We have mature kids. But — and I’ve told them this — they’re not all that mature as soccer players at this point. They’ll get there.
“We came out tonight the way we wanted and scored those early goals. We should have scored three or four goals, with the ton of chances we ended up having. I know we can be more efficient with our finishing than we showed tonight.”
Fillies senior forward and Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Lara Lubinsky set an energetic tone with her speed and sheer will, particularly while dribbling hard to set up crosses. One cross kicked off a dizzying sequence that led to senior midfielder Jen Devona’s goal and another served as the assist on sophomore midfielder Brooke Brown’s tally.
“The ball ricocheted around inside the 18,” the DePaul-bound Devona said of the pinball action that preceded her goal. “How many times, I’m not sure.”
Devona then caught up to the loose ball just outside the six and beat Knights senior goalie Annie Ninness (11 saves, eight in the first half) in the sixth minute.
Two minutes later, a hard-charging Lubinsky returned to her comfort zone near a sideline, stopped and provided a textbook cross to Brown.
Brown — without any help from a UPS truck — delivered from close-range.
Boom, boom. Barrington 2, Prospect 0, just like that.
“They came out with energy in the first 10-15 minutes,” Prospect coach Tom Froats said. “You look at Barrington, you want to be where they’ll be on Friday night, playing for the MSL title. But the beautiful thing for us is the opportunity to compete in the second season (state playoffs).”
The winning goalkeeper was Indiana-bound Coast Liapis.
The busiest goalkeeper was Ninness, who snuffed out a couple of dangerous corner kicks by making high-point grabs.
“My mindset all night was, ‘Be aggressive,’” said Ninness, who plans to study biomechanical engineering at the University of Illinois. “Barrington is an aggressive team, so I wanted to match that aggressiveness. It’s also a physical team. I had to be brave, too.”
Froats had plenty of plaudits for his third-year varsity keeper.
“Strong all game,” the coach said. “She looked really, really good on the corners. She showed confidence.”
When the Fillies weren’t dictating matters in the final third, they were squelching the Knights’ forays at the other end of the pitch. Sanchez, senior Kate McGreevy and juniors Ella VanNess and Gracie Stagnito stifled here, disrupted there, frustrated everywhere.
Knights sophomore midfielder/forward Jillian Sawadski and junior midfielder Abby Knott demonstrated speed and grit for stretches. In the second half, Prospect’s most promising rush began with a pass from Knott to senior midfielder Grace Martin. Martin then fed senior forward Madison Culli.
“We created more opportunities in the second half,” Froats noted. “That was good to see. That was encouraging.”
Barrington’s superb playmaking abilities extended possessions and proved to be the difference Wednesday night. Devona, Lubinsky and Brown isn’t a law office; it's a trio blessed with firm passing skills.
Barrington landed the no. 1 seed in the Class 3A Huntley Sectional and hosts no. 16 Auburn on June 2 at 6 p.m.; Prospect, seeded no. 11 in the Class 3A Warren Sectional, visits no. 6 Highland Park (ranked no. 22 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25) on June 2 at 5:30 p.m.
Footnotes
Barrington’s Sanchez is the daughter of Joey and Wendy, a pair of Wheeling graduates. Joey is the head football coach at Barrington and served as the defensive coordinator of Barrington’s Class 6A state runner-up team in 1998. Wendy was a standout gymnast in high school. Stengren, on Sanchez, a first-year varsity booter: “She’s one of our best 1-v-1 defenders. She’s worked very hard, and she’s very good at winning 50/50 balls. Ellie has a great attitude.” … The teacher that Ninness invited to Teacher Appreciation Night on Wednesday was Mrs. Stanford, an economics instructor at Prospect. “She’s a nice teacher who establishes great relationships with her students,” the senior goalkeeper said. “I wasn’t really interested in econ. Mrs. Stanford made it interesting.” Ninness was a field player from second to fourth grade and started battling as a part-time keeper in fifth grade. “My best friend’s father played goalkeeper in college,” Ninness said. “That made me more interested in the position.”
Starting lineups
Barrington
GK Coast Liapis
D Ellie Sanchez
D Ella VanNess
D Kate McGreevy
D Gracie Stagnito
M Jen Devona
M Brooke Brown
M Nicole Gwiasda
F Riley Raynor
F Lara Lubinsky
F Kate Lubinsky
Prospect
GK Annie Ninness
D Jackie Keane
D Natalie Bouzas
D Isabella Hubrich
D Mia D’Onofrio
M Abby Knott
M Maggie Rosenburg
M Hannah Mekky
F Jillian Sawadski
F Madison Culli
F Kayley Bouzas
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Lara Lubinsky, sr., F, Barrington
Scoring summary
First half
Barrington — Devona (UA), 6’
Barrington — Brown (L. Lubinsky), 8’
Second half
No scoring