Tigers play for third at Barrington after beating Trevians

By Mike Garofola

Wheaton Warrenville South survived a late push from New Trier to earn a 2-1 victory on Thursday in the Barrington Classic tournament.

The win guarantees the Tigers (2-1-1) a spot in the third-place match of the 22nd annual tournament. They will meet Lake Zurich at 4:00 in the main stadium.

Tiger coach Guy Callipari was anxious to see how his lads would respond to their third match in as many days, in an always tough tournament field put together by the host Broncos.

And except for a brief second-half lull, where tired legs might have caught up to the Tigers, the longtime coach was happy with what he saw.

"We came into this tournament with just one match under our belt, so we knew that at some point in this match, we might struggle both physically and mentally, and we did," Callipari said.

"The guys struggled during the first 10-15 minutes (or so) of the second half, and we had to make a few changes because we were dealing with some tired legs, but we did well to weather the storm, and a revitalized New Trier team, to get ourselves a win."

The Tigers' faithful had to figure the last thing their favorite side would need to worry about was any sort of comeback from their opponent.

Especially after the Tigers found the back of the net on two occasions in the first 18 minutes of play in a rematch of last season's championship match, which South captured by a 3-2 score.

Dan Burns surprised an embattled Trevians backline, besieged by injury this week, when he and George Doran worked a perfect 1-2 combination off the counter to beat keeper Chris Neuhaus in the first minute of play to give South an early lead.

Neuhaus, who later helped keep the Trevians (1-2-1) in the match with some spectacular work between the sticks, could do nothing on the Tigers' second strike.

On that play, Mike Kania soared above the backline to head a looping corner from Hector Espino into the back of the net.

With Burns, Doran, Nick Smith, Erik Yamane and Yusuf Yusuf all having far too much pace for their opponents in the final quarter hour before the break, it appeared the Tigers would find that all-important third goal to distance themselves even further from the Trevians.

However, that wouldn't be the case.

Smith took a diagonal ball on the right side, but Neuhaus quickly came off his line to punch the ball from the area at 33 minutes.

And then minutes later, after Yusef was mauled outside the box, Burns' free kick over the wall forced the Trevian keeper to save what could have been the junior's second goal of the half.

"We had a very hard time in that first half defending, but all of our injuries, and with us (having) to move guys around, we did well to hold (them) to just two first half goals to still give us a chance to stay in the match," offered Trevians assistant, Wes Molyneuax.

"Coach told us at the half, okay, you won the first half, now go out and do the same thing in that second half, but we didn't," said one of Callipari's captains, Thomas Schubert.

From his holding spot in the middle of the park, Schubert would drop back to help mates Dan Tomazin, Joe Holz, Will Huesing and Kania tackle and defend later on when the Trevians were in search of the equalizer.

"We've been better in each of our matches here, but we didn't play as well as we could in the second-half," admitted Schubert.

"Both teams were getting a little tired, and for us, I could sense most of us were struggling a little with fatigue, but we defended (well) when we had to today, and that's what we had to do (to) get our win."

The Trevians began the second half brightly when their lanky freshmen, Jeff Farina, drew his club closer in the 46th minute.

That started a 10-minute flurry from the CSL's defending champs that tested the Tigers, who would now be forced to defend far more than they would have liked to.

"We all knew that the next goal would be crucial, for either side, and for us, we could have moved some guys in and out when New Trier was coming at us, but I thought it was more important to keep things the way they were, and see how we would respond to the pressure," said Callipari.

Farina would come close, when on the turn, he rattled the football crossbar from just outside the box at 53 minutes, as the Trevians created three corners in 90 seconds to keep the Tigers under pressure.

After South keeper Josh Dix saved a free kick blast off the right boot of Alex Underwood, another freshmen, the Tigers slowly found their pace to grab back the run of play.

If not for the aforementioned Neuhaus, it could have easily been a 3-1 or 4-1 result for the Tigers.

The senior keeper first stopped Alec Brazeau from 14 yards, then Burns, after a trick-filled run into the box at 71 minutes.

Neuhaus saved his best effort of the match on his last goal-saving attempt, when he rebuffed Nate Fuster's long-range cracker at 78 minutes which appeared headed into the back of the net.

"You know, credit New Trier for not giving in, and coming back to give us some real trouble in that second-half," Callipari said afterwards.

"One of the best things about coming to this tournament is that there is always terrific competition, and with each match, you'll get a quality opponent who will offer a test to (us) in a different way.

"We can always see where we stand after our four matches (here) and we look forward to the challenge, and even though we won't be in the final this Saturday, we are still anxious to be playing in the third-place match, and trying to finish strong."