Glenbrook North spoils Barrington's opening night

By Mike Garofola

Barrington is looking forward to changing the headlines this season, after struggling its way to winning 7 matches during the 2009 campaign.

However, the bold print above says it all when describing its result Tuesday night when the Broncos hosted Glenbrook North in the season-opener for both sides.

The Spartans (1-0-0) looked in midseason form, recording an impressive 4-0 victory, fueled by the talented duo of Nick Olsen and Jeremy Albert, and backed up with solid work from senior keeper Quinn McAnaney, who might be among the best at his trade in the northern half of the state this fall.

"It wasn't the result we were all looking for tonight," said both Broncos' head coach Scott Steib, and one of his captains, Dan Barber, who were each quick to praise their opponent, while admitting there is still plenty of work ahead if the club wants to improve its standing in the MSL table this year.

"I'm not going to get down on this team, because there's great chemistry among all of us, and we've got a nice mix of new guys who want to get better and help this team, in addition to players who've been around a couple of years, and want to finish on a high note before graduating," said Barber, who is one of the few starters back from Steibs' first-11 from a year ago.

"They (GBN) were all over us early, we weren't as organized as we should have been, and (they) are a very good team," Barber said.

"Obviously we were very pleased with the effort and victory tonight, but Barrington is a well coached team, with some very good players," North coach Paul Vignocchi said. "But tonight we got on top and got big goals (late) and before the half, then right after the break to go up 3-0, which is a big deficit to overcome for anyone."

Vignocchi was the architect of this annual 'crossover' match between the MSL and CSL to kick-off the new soccer season every fall.

The visiting Spartans, who went 7-13-2 overall last year, showed early that in Olsen they have the type of player who can produce the energy and pace needed to spark an attack from box-to-box, while providing plenty of dangerous situations for his mates to make trouble in their opponents end.

Olsen did just that at 9 minutes when he breached the Broncos' defense with trickery to get in close - before finding Albert at the far post who easily finished the terrific helper.

The homeside would struggle to possess in the middle of the park, instead playing far too many ball over the top with the hope of finding one of its three strikers in the Broncos' David Pacheco, Taylor Williams and Jason Gonzalez. The Spartans' back line easily collected and cleared any troublesome balls headed their way to slow the Broncos' attack.

"Our defense, heading into this season, was our biggest concern because of lack of experience as a group, but I was very happy with their first effort of the season," said Vignocchi.

If Vignocchi was pleased with his backline, he was positively thrilled with what his offense would do as intermission was about to arrive when Albert was left alone and unchallenged at the top of the box long enough for the senior to drive home the second goal of the game to double the Spartans' lead after 40 minutes.

"It's not acceptable to allow a player to get in that close, without someone stepping up to take that player on, or attempt to tackle," said a frustrated Steib.

Moments later on the other end, Williams curled a wicked drive off the woodwork after Pacheco initiated the shot when his freekick blast bounded off the Spartans wall and over to the right side.

At the break, Steib would make a few changes, including going with 4 in the back, while reminding his lads that they need to play better and smarter for the next 40 minutes. While Steib and his staff saw energy and hard work from many, it was not enough to slow the Spartans, who made it 3-0 and then 4-0 on a magnificent shot from Olsen, just inside the far post, which ended the night's scoring at the one-hour mark.

"We did a lot of good things tonight, but not for extended periods of time," began Steib, whose club plays defending MSL champ Palatine on Thursday.

"I would have liked us to be a little sharper and more crisp when we got into the final third, but we didn't, and that's something we have to continue to work on."

"The good thing is, we got through our first match of the year, and will now go back and maybe change a few things to give us a better chance of using the talent that we have, and to prepare us for our match on Thursday."

"We had a lot of young guys out there for the final 15 minutes or so, with little or no varsity experience, and I thought they had a good showing for their first time," offered Barber.

"Guys like Matt (Bosworth) and our freshmen, Jonah Muniz all did well, and that will only make them better, and our team as well."