By Mike Garofola

BARRINGTON -- Barrington and Fremd have been the two powerhouses of the Mid-Suburban League for oh such a long time.

When these two giants squared up against each other in the recent past, the fixture ultimately decided who claimed the top prize in the division and represented the West Division in the annual Soccer Cup.

However, since 2010, Barrington has risen to another level.

Since 2012 when the Fillies won the first of 11-consecutive league championships, Ryan Stengren’s club is 9-1-1 against their longtime rival. The draw came from a hard-fought 1-1 battle last season.

Both sides then finished with identical 10-0-1 conference; the Fillies went through to the championship match by virtue of a tiebreaker.

Saturday morning, Fremd entered Barrington Community Stadium with a perfect league mark (5-0-0) and an eagerness to reverse the long run of its rival.

With both sides arriving with a combined advantage of 54 goals scored and just two conceded in league play, the contest figured to be another classic on a gorgeous spring morning.

But Barrington had different plans.

With just five minutes played, Fillies all-state forward Sarah Saranowski bagged the first of her two goals on the day and inspired a magnificent 80-minute performance by the home side en route to a well-deserved 3-0 victory.

With the win the Fillies, ranked second in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, move to 7-0-0 overall in the league and 8-0-1 overall. No. 22 Fremd (5-2-2, 5-1-0) now sit six points behind their rivals in the conference table.

"Sarah's early goal really set the tone for this game," said Roos VanRoekel, the Fillies marvelous central defender who along with Saranowski was named a Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match.

"(You're) always looking to be the first team to get the opener," said Saranowski. “In a game as important as this one, I believe it really gave all of us that extra boost of confidence we needed against such a great opponent.”

"This was a game we all knew we needed to win the division," began Vikings senior all-stater Gemma Gillespie, who will play next fall at Butler University and have an opportunity to move into the center of the Bulldogs three-back system right away.

"We let one get away from us last year, and it cost us the division title. The year before we were never really in that game."

"That early first goal, and us not meeting the energy and work-rate of Barrington was the difference in this one for sure."

"(That) is a very good team we played today," said Vikings manager Steve Keller pointing toward the black shirts on the far end of the stadium as they went through their cool-down protocol.

"You have to be impressed with the energy they had today, far more than we had. Plus, all of the pressure they brought all over the place, and their ability to play with the confidence of knowing where each other would be.

"That first goal was just a great shot. What upsets me more is how we allowed them to beat 2-3 of us in our end for their second goal, then two of our players to make it 3-0.

"We wanted to keep it close as long as we could, but those two mistakes took that chance away from us. That was the game."

Sarnowski, who scored 23 goals a year ago, was at her best when Madeline Lewis set her free on the left side with a sublime ball.

The St. Louis University-bound Sarnowski did the rest when she burst free before unloading a wicked left-footed effort that found the far inside netting.

"What a great first goal from Sarah," said Stengren. It was the type of start we were looking for, especially against such a great opponent like Fremd. We obviously expected a real battle.”

Lewis nearly doubled the Fillies advantage three minutes later, when she rattled the bar with her one-timer from 25 yards.

Fremd opened in a 4-5-1 formation with the Vikings terrific sophomore goal-scorer Gwen Zimmerman playing withdrawn in the middle of the park as a facilitator.

The Vikings faithful had a bit of a scare when the all-stater went down during a 50/50 encounter around the midline. Fortunately, after a short time with the trainers, she returned a few minutes afterward no worse for wear.

Zimmerman connected with Sami Serpico with an early ball up the left side, but VanRoekel -- impervious in the air and brilliant at positioning herself in the right place at the right time -- easily moved over to snuff out any potential danger.

"Roos sometimes makes it look so easy in the back," began Saranowski. "(Her) soccer IQ is off the charts, and she plays with so much confidence, and just seems to win everything. She’s a great leader for us in the back."

VanRoekel’s backline mates Hannah Blue, Grace Fuller and Chloe Gierthy are newcomers to a Fillies defense that lost a pair of first class defenders from a year ago, two-time all-stater Ellie Sanchez and Meredith McGreevy.

"We're coming along well along the back, and our effort today was very good, but the girls know there's still a lot of work ahead of us to get to where we want to be," said Stengren after this unit allowed only one quality chance on his all-state keeper Megan Holland.

The clean-sheet Holland registered gives her 7.5 on the season and will shrink her already paltry goals against average even lower from 0.13.

The home side enjoyed most of the play during the first 20 minutes before the competition leveled off somewhat.

However, with senior Maddy Ziebarth winning countless balls from her spot at the six and her midfield mates Madeline Lewis and Kaitlin Taylor doing their best to distribute, defend and push the play, Saranowski, two-time all-stater Piper Lucier and freshman Aybree Sanchez out wide on the right continued to keep the Vikings in their own end far more than they would have liked.

"(They) won a lot of balls today, first and second balls, and that's something we're really going to be better at going forward," admitted Gillespie.

Seniors Gillespie, Maddie McMillan and Bella Scesniak along with junior Lia DiGirolamo did an admirable job in front of first half keeper Emily Gordon despite having their collective hands full.

Scesniak provided a handful of long-range free kicks that Barrington cleared from its area without too much harm being done.

Lucier went wide for the Fillies offense. Then freshman Gabby Masterson found the outside netting off a free kick from VanRoekel, who later thumped her headed effort straight-on to Gordon when she elevated to meet a Lucier corner.

All of this action came after the half hour as did a nice effort from Sanchez, who chipped a Vikings defender only to have an alert Gordon come off her line to collect the nifty touch.

Fremd had a goal called back due to an offsides call in the 39th minute.

After Vikings senior Natalie Wala's snap-shot went up and over the bar in the 44th-minute, disaster struck for the visitors.

Taylor played a lovely ball to Lucier, who proceeded to trick her way free of a trio of Vikings. She then smashed a brilliant cracker past second half Fremd keeper Riley Goettsche for a two-goal lead in the 46th minute.

Eight minutes later, a nice Lucier win led to the junior finding Saranowski. The senior, on the turn, and blanketed by white shirts, unloaded a low, paced-filled strike past a diving Goettsche in the 54th minute.

"Sarah is such a great player, team leader, and great friend. Her nonstop play and effort, that is a motivation to all of us," VanRoekel said with pride and a big smile for her teammate.

VanRoekel will play next fall at Loyola, where she will plan to pursue a degree in exercise science.

With the score 3-0, both sides began to bring on more reserves, Keller saw the freshmen trio of Francesca Calderon, Ciero Ewanio and Josie Thomas provide some quality minutes.

"I thought today we played well, but Barrington was better,” Keller said. “Again, those lapses in the second half that led to their two goals are something we will address, sort out and be better at."

The Vikings travel to Wheeling (2-6-1, 0-5-0) on Wednesday before its Naperville Invitational opener with state power Lyons the next day at New Trier’s Northfield Campus.

Barrington will continue its march toward another division title Wednesday at Buffalo Grove. Thursday, the defending champions begin their defense of the Naperville Invitational when Geneva comes to town.

"It was a very good effort from the girls today," Stengren began. “They came in focused and ready to play from the very start

"With Lewis, Taylor and Ziebarth keeping us organized and winning a lot of ball in the midfield, our forwards had a good day creating chances. 

"While we're happy with the win, we still have a long way to go in order to put together a complete 80-minute effort, but today was a good win for sure."

Starting lineups

Fremd (4-5-1)
GK- Emily Gordon
D- Maddie McMillan
D- Bella Scesniak
D- Gemma Gillespie
D- Lia DiGirolamo
M- Lily Mayer
M- Natalia Wala
M- Gwen Zimmerman
M- Sophia Kennedy
M- Sami Serpico
F- Ava Catherall

Barrington (4-3-3)
GK- Megan Holland
D- Hannah Blue
D- Grace Fuller
D- Roos VanRoekel
D- Chloe Gierthy
M- Kaitlin Taylor
M- Maddy Ziebarth
M- Madeline Lewis
F- Sarah Sarnowski
F- Piper Lucier
F- Aybree Sanchez

Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match: Sarah Sarnowski, sr., F, Barrington; Roos VanRoekel, sr., D, Barrington

Referee: Fabio Pompa

Scoring summary

First half
Barrington: Sarnowski (M. Lewis), 5'

Second half
Barrington: Lucier (Taylor), 46'
Barrington: Sarnowski (Lucier), 54'