Barrington outbattles Evanston
1-0 for semifinal berth
Poidomani strike, impressive defense move Fillies forward
By Mike Garofola
BARRINGTON -: The road to Naperville appears to go through Barrington first after the Fillies emerged from their home park after a scintillating 1-0 victory Thursday night over Evanston, in a contest of two of the very best in this area, if not the state.
The Fillies, ranked no. 1 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, now join an elite guest list at the Naperville Invitational semifinals Friday. They play second-ranked Naperville North, whom they beat 1-0 in the season opener. The fireworks are scheduled for 5 p.m. tonight (Friday) at Naperville Central.
"I like we passed a big test tonight," began Fillies manager, Ryan Stengren.
"We haven't met a team as talented as Evanston since our first couple of games of the season, and after a little bit of a rough start, I felt like we (were) able to meet their speed of play, create some chances, and defend with a first rate effort along the back to keep them out of the back of our net, and (move) into the semifinals."
Maurizio Grillo's club came into Thursday's quarterfinal brimming with confidence, particularly the Wildkits (13-3-2) manager, who felt strongly enough about his side to make this statement following this late night thriller.
"I honestly believed we would becoming away with a 2-0 win tonight, but I am still waiting for our girls to show up and play the way I know we can play," said Grillo.
Despite the high expectations from its manager, all who were in the chilled audience at Barrington Community Stadium, including Stengren and his staff, would have to be impressed with Evanston's play : especially in the opening half hour.
"They knocked the ball around all over the place, and with a lot of speed and quickness, so they had us on our heels during the opening stages, which forced us to play a little more defensive than we would have liked," admitted Stengren.
With the hugely gifted Mala Cella running the show in the middle of the park, the junior and her Wildkit mates began the game with an almost breathtaking pace : determined to put the Fillies (12-1-1) under, and in a position where they would be chasing the lead all night long.
With their 4-3-3 formation, it was the effervescent Cella who was at the controls. With great regularity, she found her front-runners, Alex Berkley, Hadley Bushala and Kira Favakeh, only to discover the stout Fillies backline. They allowed nothing near their keeper, Samantha Schmitz, and impressed Grillo more than anything else.
"Perhaps the difference tonight was how strong and physical (their) backline was, and how they cleared with a purpose (while) we cleared just to get rid of the ball," opined Grillo.
"Our backline has been the strength of our team right from the beginning, and now that we have (goalkeeper) Samatha (Schmitz) back from her injury, we're even that much stronger back there," offered Anna Brodjian, who along with Fillies forward, Kayla Schutter shared Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
The fifth-ranked Wildkits played more passes in the first half, but the Fillies covered more of the field turf. Despite the high percentage of touches and connected passes for the visitors, when they lost the ball they immediately found Schutter and her Fillies mates running at them.
"We knew we could meet and play with their speed, but it took us awhile to find out for sure that we could. Once we became more confident in our game, and ourselves, our effort was as good as their's," said Schutter.
Maesyn Poidomani, who along with Schutter were the lone wolves in the Fillies attack during the opening quarter hour when the rest of their mates were defending with all their might, stunned Evanston with a marvelous goal from in close. Schutter and Ellie Stodola did a lot of the work to get the game-winning helper inside to the junior.
"Again, as I said before, I mentioned how good Barrington was with their clearing efforts, and how poor we were," said Grill0. "That lone goal of the night came as a result of us not doing our job properly of getting the ball out of our area : quickly and smartly, and (Barrington) was good enough to take advantage of our mistake."
Poidomani managed to emerge from a crowd in front of keeper Sheridan Cleave to drive her close range shot into the back of the net, much to the delight of Schutter.
"We've all been taught to just try and keep the ball alive (somehow) when you're in that close, and maybe some good will happen," she said. "And tonight it did for Maesyn and our team."
There's no doubt the 16th-minute goal brought the Fillies to life and shook the foundation of their guests, who until that moment had to feel as if they had a goal or two coming from their outstanding play in the first half of the period.
Grillo put Annika DeStefano to sit in just behind the Wildkits midfield at 20 minutes, pushing Berkley higher from her withdrawn position. But the extra attacker did not faze the Fillies, who now connected to its midfield a little bit more. The primary targets were Michayla Herr in the center of the park, and Sophia Spinell on the outside where her meaningful crossfield serves began to stretch the Wildkits in their own end.
Evanston countered this swing in momentum by dropping more numbers back when the Fillies came across the midline. So a new precedent was seen by Stengren and his staff, who addressed the issue and a few others during intermission.
"We knew we could do some things against Evanston, but we had to either stop or slow Cella in the middle in order for us to get back the run of play, which I felt they had a little more of (then) we did," said Stengren.
"The real key then was to put Brodjian on no. 14 (Cella) in that second half, and what she did was just amazing, easily her best defensive work of the entire season. You'll have to agree no. 14's touches and ability to create and get involved went way down after the break."
"You just do what you have to do for your team," was the way Brodjian responded after hearing the praise of her manager during her post-game interview.
While the Evanston attack had to always be respected and feared because of the many levels of talent it can throw forward, it was Barrington that was the more dangerous side in the second half.
After a few nervous moments in the 43rd minute -: Evanston's Vanessa Eljaiek collected a poor square ball in the Fillies area and made her run and carry towards Schmitz before it was snuffed out by a sharp and decisive tackle from Haley Tausend -: the Barrington backline, which also features Jackie Batliner, Lauren Pircher and Kayla Keck, was not only air-tight but also quite effective going forward. Each of them initiated an attack from their defensive positions.
A brilliant ball from Schutter, after she shifted gears and direction, nearly put Ashley Prell in alone on Cleave at 47 minutes, then three minutes later, a nifty tackle from Prell led to a Schutter possession that once again unlocked Evanston with a devastating early ball to Spinell.
If not for a quick challenge off her line by Cleave, the Fillies advantage would have been two.
"After getting a little overwhelmed by the speed and quickness of the first half, Ashley turned in a solid effort after the break as just a freshmen," said Stengren. "But the work from Sydney Bowling was just outstanding, who gave us so much in both halves, and real made a difference when she was in there."
It was at the hour mark that both clubs sensed the urgency of it all: Evanston as it searched to draw back even; and the Fillies, who knew one more goal would likely secure safe passage into the semifinals.
Tausend was there once again with another fine tackle on Evanston's Favakeh who was on the end of some nice combination work, however, it was the Fillies who were more dangerous in its bid to get onto the scoreboard during the final ten minutes before time.
A well-aimed crossfield serve from Spinell forced Wildkits defender Julia Kenney into a goal-saving tackle on Brodjian, while another Spinell attempt from the far touchline nearly found Poidomani at the back post.
Barrington did well to manage the lead and the clock in the final minutes of the match, using a half-dozen deep throws, and some timely tackles in the Evanston end to eat away time on the clock.
"We didn't accomplish what we set out to do tonight, so now we must get back to training and try to fix a few of those things," Grillo said in closing.
Evanston will play Geneva tonight at Naperville North
On the other end of the park, both Brodjian and Schutter were happy with the performance of their teammates, but each kept it all in perspective in advance of its match with Naperville North, and what lies ahead after this weekend.
"We know there's a lot of soccer still to be played, but the effort tonight was very good, and this was a good win for all of us," said Schutter.
"But we can still be a lot better," chimed in Brodjian.
After a busy finish to a long week of soccer, the Fillies will go about the business of closing out the rest of its Mid-Suburban League West Division rivals next week, and lock down a fifth-consecutive divisional crown.
"We're finally getting everyone back and healthy, and starting to play the way we know we can," said Stengren. "This is a team that trains hard and with a purpose, so they all know we can be better than we are now."
Starting line-ups
Evanston
GK: Sheridan Cleave
D: Ruby Siegel
D: Julia Kenney
D: Katherine Kremlin
D: Avery Ackman
MF: Maia Cella
MF: Vanessa Eljaiek
MF: Keara Kerr
F: Hadley Bushala
F: Alex Berkley
F: Kira Favakeh
BARRINGTON
GK; Samantha Schmitz
D: Jackie Batlinere
D: Kayla Keck
D: Haley Tausend
D: Lauren Pircher
MF: Soph Spinell
MF: Ellie Stodola
MF: Michayla Herr
MF: Anna Brodjian
F: Kayla Schutter
F: Maesyn Poidomani
MVPs of the Match: Anna Brodjian, MF, Barrington
Kayla Schutter, F, Barrington
Referee: Steve Sarto
1-0 for semifinal berth
Poidomani strike, impressive defense move Fillies forward
By Mike Garofola
BARRINGTON -: The road to Naperville appears to go through Barrington first after the Fillies emerged from their home park after a scintillating 1-0 victory Thursday night over Evanston, in a contest of two of the very best in this area, if not the state.
The Fillies, ranked no. 1 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, now join an elite guest list at the Naperville Invitational semifinals Friday. They play second-ranked Naperville North, whom they beat 1-0 in the season opener. The fireworks are scheduled for 5 p.m. tonight (Friday) at Naperville Central.
"I like we passed a big test tonight," began Fillies manager, Ryan Stengren.
"We haven't met a team as talented as Evanston since our first couple of games of the season, and after a little bit of a rough start, I felt like we (were) able to meet their speed of play, create some chances, and defend with a first rate effort along the back to keep them out of the back of our net, and (move) into the semifinals."
Maurizio Grillo's club came into Thursday's quarterfinal brimming with confidence, particularly the Wildkits (13-3-2) manager, who felt strongly enough about his side to make this statement following this late night thriller.
"I honestly believed we would becoming away with a 2-0 win tonight, but I am still waiting for our girls to show up and play the way I know we can play," said Grillo.
Despite the high expectations from its manager, all who were in the chilled audience at Barrington Community Stadium, including Stengren and his staff, would have to be impressed with Evanston's play : especially in the opening half hour.
"They knocked the ball around all over the place, and with a lot of speed and quickness, so they had us on our heels during the opening stages, which forced us to play a little more defensive than we would have liked," admitted Stengren.
With the hugely gifted Mala Cella running the show in the middle of the park, the junior and her Wildkit mates began the game with an almost breathtaking pace : determined to put the Fillies (12-1-1) under, and in a position where they would be chasing the lead all night long.
With their 4-3-3 formation, it was the effervescent Cella who was at the controls. With great regularity, she found her front-runners, Alex Berkley, Hadley Bushala and Kira Favakeh, only to discover the stout Fillies backline. They allowed nothing near their keeper, Samantha Schmitz, and impressed Grillo more than anything else.
"Perhaps the difference tonight was how strong and physical (their) backline was, and how they cleared with a purpose (while) we cleared just to get rid of the ball," opined Grillo.
"Our backline has been the strength of our team right from the beginning, and now that we have (goalkeeper) Samatha (Schmitz) back from her injury, we're even that much stronger back there," offered Anna Brodjian, who along with Fillies forward, Kayla Schutter shared Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
The fifth-ranked Wildkits played more passes in the first half, but the Fillies covered more of the field turf. Despite the high percentage of touches and connected passes for the visitors, when they lost the ball they immediately found Schutter and her Fillies mates running at them.
"We knew we could meet and play with their speed, but it took us awhile to find out for sure that we could. Once we became more confident in our game, and ourselves, our effort was as good as their's," said Schutter.
Maesyn Poidomani, who along with Schutter were the lone wolves in the Fillies attack during the opening quarter hour when the rest of their mates were defending with all their might, stunned Evanston with a marvelous goal from in close. Schutter and Ellie Stodola did a lot of the work to get the game-winning helper inside to the junior.
"Again, as I said before, I mentioned how good Barrington was with their clearing efforts, and how poor we were," said Grill0. "That lone goal of the night came as a result of us not doing our job properly of getting the ball out of our area : quickly and smartly, and (Barrington) was good enough to take advantage of our mistake."
Poidomani managed to emerge from a crowd in front of keeper Sheridan Cleave to drive her close range shot into the back of the net, much to the delight of Schutter.
"We've all been taught to just try and keep the ball alive (somehow) when you're in that close, and maybe some good will happen," she said. "And tonight it did for Maesyn and our team."
There's no doubt the 16th-minute goal brought the Fillies to life and shook the foundation of their guests, who until that moment had to feel as if they had a goal or two coming from their outstanding play in the first half of the period.
Grillo put Annika DeStefano to sit in just behind the Wildkits midfield at 20 minutes, pushing Berkley higher from her withdrawn position. But the extra attacker did not faze the Fillies, who now connected to its midfield a little bit more. The primary targets were Michayla Herr in the center of the park, and Sophia Spinell on the outside where her meaningful crossfield serves began to stretch the Wildkits in their own end.
Evanston countered this swing in momentum by dropping more numbers back when the Fillies came across the midline. So a new precedent was seen by Stengren and his staff, who addressed the issue and a few others during intermission.
"We knew we could do some things against Evanston, but we had to either stop or slow Cella in the middle in order for us to get back the run of play, which I felt they had a little more of (then) we did," said Stengren.
"The real key then was to put Brodjian on no. 14 (Cella) in that second half, and what she did was just amazing, easily her best defensive work of the entire season. You'll have to agree no. 14's touches and ability to create and get involved went way down after the break."
"You just do what you have to do for your team," was the way Brodjian responded after hearing the praise of her manager during her post-game interview.
While the Evanston attack had to always be respected and feared because of the many levels of talent it can throw forward, it was Barrington that was the more dangerous side in the second half.
After a few nervous moments in the 43rd minute -: Evanston's Vanessa Eljaiek collected a poor square ball in the Fillies area and made her run and carry towards Schmitz before it was snuffed out by a sharp and decisive tackle from Haley Tausend -: the Barrington backline, which also features Jackie Batliner, Lauren Pircher and Kayla Keck, was not only air-tight but also quite effective going forward. Each of them initiated an attack from their defensive positions.
A brilliant ball from Schutter, after she shifted gears and direction, nearly put Ashley Prell in alone on Cleave at 47 minutes, then three minutes later, a nifty tackle from Prell led to a Schutter possession that once again unlocked Evanston with a devastating early ball to Spinell.
If not for a quick challenge off her line by Cleave, the Fillies advantage would have been two.
"After getting a little overwhelmed by the speed and quickness of the first half, Ashley turned in a solid effort after the break as just a freshmen," said Stengren. "But the work from Sydney Bowling was just outstanding, who gave us so much in both halves, and real made a difference when she was in there."
It was at the hour mark that both clubs sensed the urgency of it all: Evanston as it searched to draw back even; and the Fillies, who knew one more goal would likely secure safe passage into the semifinals.
Tausend was there once again with another fine tackle on Evanston's Favakeh who was on the end of some nice combination work, however, it was the Fillies who were more dangerous in its bid to get onto the scoreboard during the final ten minutes before time.
A well-aimed crossfield serve from Spinell forced Wildkits defender Julia Kenney into a goal-saving tackle on Brodjian, while another Spinell attempt from the far touchline nearly found Poidomani at the back post.
Barrington did well to manage the lead and the clock in the final minutes of the match, using a half-dozen deep throws, and some timely tackles in the Evanston end to eat away time on the clock.
"We didn't accomplish what we set out to do tonight, so now we must get back to training and try to fix a few of those things," Grillo said in closing.
Evanston will play Geneva tonight at Naperville North
On the other end of the park, both Brodjian and Schutter were happy with the performance of their teammates, but each kept it all in perspective in advance of its match with Naperville North, and what lies ahead after this weekend.
"We know there's a lot of soccer still to be played, but the effort tonight was very good, and this was a good win for all of us," said Schutter.
"But we can still be a lot better," chimed in Brodjian.
After a busy finish to a long week of soccer, the Fillies will go about the business of closing out the rest of its Mid-Suburban League West Division rivals next week, and lock down a fifth-consecutive divisional crown.
"We're finally getting everyone back and healthy, and starting to play the way we know we can," said Stengren. "This is a team that trains hard and with a purpose, so they all know we can be better than we are now."
Starting line-ups
Evanston
GK: Sheridan Cleave
D: Ruby Siegel
D: Julia Kenney
D: Katherine Kremlin
D: Avery Ackman
MF: Maia Cella
MF: Vanessa Eljaiek
MF: Keara Kerr
F: Hadley Bushala
F: Alex Berkley
F: Kira Favakeh
BARRINGTON
GK; Samantha Schmitz
D: Jackie Batlinere
D: Kayla Keck
D: Haley Tausend
D: Lauren Pircher
MF: Soph Spinell
MF: Ellie Stodola
MF: Michayla Herr
MF: Anna Brodjian
F: Kayla Schutter
F: Maesyn Poidomani
MVPs of the Match: Anna Brodjian, MF, Barrington
Kayla Schutter, F, Barrington
Referee: Steve Sarto