Broncos get late score to pull out win at Niles North

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO ALBUM COURTESY OF VANESSA STRAIN

By Dan Santaromita
Photos courtesy of Vanessa Strain

Three days after Barrington beat Elk Grove on a last-minute winner, it pulled out a victory in a similar fashion over Niles North.

Taylor Williams scored a goal with less than three minutes remaining to help the Broncos beat the Vikings 2-1 in Skokie on Saturday.

The Broncos picked up a huge conference win over Conant Friday night and were sluggish for the first 20 or so minutes of the opening half.

"I told them at halftime that you looked like a team that played really hard last night," Barrington coach Scott Steib said. "I'm not mad at them for that, but you've also got to be able to play back-to-back days.

"It's not like it used to be where you're playing three games in 36 hours the way the old state tournament was, but you've got to be able to play back-to-back games hard. We're not necessarily thinking about being there yet, but that's the reality. You've got to be able to do that."

Steib said every healthy Bronco played at least 10-15 minutes so the depth of the team came in handy.

The first half was scoreless and had minimal action, but the play picked up in the second half.

The Vikings had a slew of set pieces throughout the game, but through the first hour, couldn't convert them into good looks at goal.

"I thought we were hard on defense," Barrington goalkeeper Steven Polasik said. "We were getting to the ball, being aggressive and that was good. I was coming out for some balls. We just need to stop giving up so many free kicks.

"We've practiced a lot this season at becoming harder and just getting to the ball. We've been turning our season around and for the first time we can say we're over .500. It's definitely going in the right direction."

Barrington (7-6-2) broke the stalemate in the 63rd minute with a goal from Ethan Claes.

Lasse Haataja flicked the ball onto Claes, who finished with a low shot that went in off the inside of the far post. It was Claes' first goal of the season.

"We've been on a hot streak with our goals," Claes said. "In the beginning of the season we gave up goals early and we were good to not do that today."

Up to that point, there weren't many goal-scoring chances and it seemed like Claes' goal would hold to be the winner.

Instead, Niles North answered less than a minute later. The Vikings had a free kick that was driven into the box on the ground and they got on the end of it.

Polasik (12 saves) made the initial save, but the rebound came right back and the Vikings leveled the score.

"I think we need to defend the first part of that better because it wasn't like the ball in was hit real well," Steib said. "It was kind of like a seeing-eye single. It just found its way through and we've got to do better with that.

"You never like to see your team score and then concede the lead. We've still got some growing to do mentally, but progress is progress."

Niles North appeared to have momentum and the run of play after tying the match, but Williams made a spectacular effort to take the late lead.

Williams received a long ball on a counterattack, dribbled around a defender and made a solid strike for the goal.

For the Broncos, who play a 6:30 p.m. match on Tuesday at Buffalo Grove, it was a good way to earn their third win in four days.

"I think we can play better than we did today, but I think considering what you were hoping to accomplish to come over here and win in the last couple minutes of a game is great," Steib said.

"We're showing some resilience in that respect and it's good. We're still making strides. This is probably a game we probably wouldn't have won a month ago."