BARRINGTON -- Glenbrook North and Barrington each came in to Tuesday’s game at the Barrington Classic with unblemished records.

However, they had gone down different paths to maintain their perfect marks.

Glenbrook North posted impressive wins over its competition, winning its first three games of the season by scores of 4-1, 3-1 and a 5-1 tally in the Spartans opening tourney game Monday versus Lake Zurich.

Barrington’s defense had yet to yield after two 1-0 victories to open the boys season. The second victory came against Jacobs on Monday in Classic play.

So, you might say it was great offense teeing it up against an unscored-upon defense Tuesday, and something had to give in a contest pitting two strong sides.

“I’d say there are pros and cons to this kind of match this early in the season,” said Broncos assistant coach Ata Ozbay prior to the game.

“To look on the bright side, we’ll know where we’re at, and we’ll know the things we need to work on. Maybe that’s the benefit. And if we happen to end up on the wrong side of the result, it’s better now than later on.

“We’re taking this game very seriously. We’re feeling good -- it feels like a family here more than a team -- and if you watch, you’ll see that.”

And it turned out, defenders held the advantage at Barrington as the Broncos and Spartans battled their way to a 1-1 draw in the Red Division of the eight-team tournament.

Both teams scored in the first half, then clamped down on defense in the final 40 minutes.

Each side had late chances, but goalkeepers Charlie Field, of Barrington, and Gil Meyers, from Glenbrook North, proved up to the task.
 
“We saw the scouting report, so we knew how they played a little coming in,” said Glenbrook North senior midfielder Ian Lee, who scored the only goal for the Spartans.

“They had beaten a team in our conference already (Maine South),” added Lee, “so obviously we wanted to win, but giving up only one goal and getting a tie shows how strong we can be.”

Barrington coach Scott Steib was satisfied with the result but also felt that his team didn’t play up to it’s potential against the Spartans.

“At halftime we talked about how lethargic and uninspired we seemed to be,” said the coach. 

“We asked the kids who were watching and did not get in, to come up with a word or a phrase as to what they saw. ‘Not locked in’ and those types of things were what we heard.

“This was far from quality for us. And if you’re not focused to play, your accuracy and all that goes with it suffers in my opinion. It’s early and maybe we’re not match-fit like we will be in a month, but I expected a lot more.”

Still, despite that, Steib found positives in the play of his side, especially against a team that had already scored 12 goals on the year.

“They (Glenbrook North) had a handful of chances and some set pieces, but I thought our boys did a great job of not letting them run rampant on our side of the field. We can take (pride) in the fact that we didn’t give a team that had scored that many goals many chances.”

Glenbrook North took the kickoff and settled in early with most of the possession.

Spartans sophomore midfielder Jackson Lee had a nice attack on goal in the 4th minute, but was turned away on a good tackle by Broncos defender Adam Walocha.

Barrington’s Mattie Vitale and Andy Sfondilis also made stellar breakups near their goal line to keep Glenbrook North off the scoreboard.

The Spartans broke through in the 30th minute.

After a Barrington foul, Glenbrook North was given a free kick about 23 yards away from the far post. Ian Lee took the boot and sailed it untouched past the keeper and in to the back of the net to give the visitors the lead.

“It was 0-0,” said Lee, “so at that point I knew I had to score.”

That gave the Spartans momentum, but it didn’t take Barrington long to turn the tide in their favor and get the equalizer.

With just a few minutes left in the first half, Broncos midfielder Kyle Krull made a steal just past midfield and fed a beautiful pass to teammate Kian Cullen, who was racing down the middle of the pitch.

Cullen took control of the ball and fired a hard shot from 15 yards that that found the back corner of the goal to make it 1-1.

“I felt that both teams were a little low on energy after playing the first game of the tourney yesterday,” said Barrington’s Vitale, a senior.

“We conceded an unfortunate goal on a set piece (in the first half), but the kid hit it well. You’ve got to give him credit for that.”

Broncos keeper Field came off the goal line in the first minute of the second half to keep the game even.

There was a scrum in front of the net after a throw-in and the ball was slipping and sliding toward the goal line, but Field dived to corral it just before it went in.

The wind picked up considerably after intermission, and the Broncos were able to get the first two corner kicks of the game -- one after the other -- in the 52nd minute.

On the second attempt, Barrington got a header that just went wide after a great cross by Walocha.

Glenbrook North coach Paul Vignocchi said that he was very impressed with his team’s effort in the final quarter of the match.

“I thought our energy was really a lot better,” said Vignocchi, “and we were moving the ball a lot better. That’s something that we were trying to get all game, and the last 20 minutes were good.

“I thought we did a nice job. We knocked at the door a couple times, but we couldn’t finish.”

The Spartans kept the pressure on late, and Ian Lee almost scored again in the 75th minute, but his header was turned away by Field.

Barrington had the final opportunity of the night. With less than 2 minutes remaining in the game, Krull propelled a header that was right on goal, but Meyers made the save.

After the final horn sounded, Vitale was already looking ahead.

“We’re just going to go in to the next game with the mentality of not giving up any goals,” said the senior. “That’s our thing, we don’t want to concede anything, we want to play hard defense.

“Going into tonight’s game we knew that they (Glenbrook North) had two strong, attacking midfielders, so we played with two defensive midfielders to match that. We played with a different system; we didn’t get the result we wanted, but it was a good game.

“We’re all competitors on this team, and I think that showed when we were able to get the (equalizing) goal right after they scored.”

Glenbrook North coach Vignocchi added that his team loves the competition they face at Barrington.

“That’s the reason we do this tournament,” said Vignocchi. “We really enjoy the hospitality that Barrington shows us, and it’s just great soccer all around. It’s kind of a good measuring stick for us.

“Scott (Steib) always does a great job with his teams, and defensively they’re solid. We had a great finish tonight on our free kick, but I’m disappointed with the goal we gave up. We turned the ball over, a counterattack, and that’s something we’ve got to clean up.

“We’ll learn from our mistakes. If we don’t let too many of those things happen again, we should be in good shape.”

The teams finish group play Thursday night to decide who moves on to the 6 p.m. Saturday final. Barrington hosts Lake Zurich (1-1-0 in the tournament) at 7 p.m., and Glenbrook North meets Jacobs (0-2-0) at 7 p.m. on Barrington’s auxiliary turf field.

Glenbrook North holds a three-goal edge over Barrington in the second tiebreaker -- goal differential.

Starting lineups

Glenbrook North
GK: Gil Meyers
D: Sam Lappin
D: Chase Petersen
D: Ben Melnick
D: Jordan Elliott
MF: Yianny Caparos
MF: Alex Ferencz
MF: Ian Lee
MF: Jackson Lee
MF: Steven Rhee
F: Brady Spiggos

Barrington
GK: Charlie Field
D: Logan Cidulka
D: Mattie Vitale
D: Nico Hausser
D: Adam Walocha
MF: Dan Gawronski
MF: Kyle Krull
MF: Patrick Tabb
MF: Andy Sfondilis
MF: Brian Mazgaj
F: Philip Jackowski

Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Mattie Vitale, sr., D, Barrington
Ian Lee, sr., MF, Glenbrook North

Scoring summary

First half
Glenbrook North: Lee (unassisted), 30’
Barrington, Cullen (Krull) 35’

Second half
No scoring