MT. PROSPECT – Barrington picked up three needed points courtesy of Will Krause, who brought an end to a two-game conference losing streak to open Mid-Suburban League play.

The Broncos junior found a way into the back of the Prospect net seven minutes from time Tuesday night at Gattas Memorial Stadium to give the visitors a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

"We have not done very well here at Prospect over the years," said Broncos manager Scott Steib whose club lost here two years ago and has struggled against the Knights even during the glory years.

"I don't know why we have our troubles when we play here. But, they always have a team that plays hard and with a lot of energy. Tonight was no different." 

After a successful run to lift the top prize at its own Barrington Classic over Labor Day weekend against Class AA power Boylan, the Broncos dropped a 2-1 contest to Buffalo Grove before falling to Elk Grove 2-0.

"I think maybe we came out of our tournament a little overconfident, and it cost us against Buffalo Grove and Elk Grove," said senior Brian Mazgaj, who was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.

"Tonight, we didn't play our best soccer in the first half. We did some good things, but were not very good in the final third. Prospect was playing with a lot more energy that we were in that first half."

"We played some good soccer at our tournament,” Krause said. “Although we had trouble finding the back of the net, defensively as a team we were very good. That's what helped us win the tournament, and this game tonight."

The tight, and at times intense, match was ultimately decided during the end of a frantic final quarter hour that saw both sides counter, create chances, earn deep throws and corners and play with plenty of box-to-box energy that kept their respective fandoms on the edge of their seats.

"I really liked our energy and fight tonight," said Knights first-year manager Jenna Samp. “We played more of a complete game of soccer in the first half but fell off after the break. We came back from that really well, but fell short in the end.”

The home side was on its collective front foot after the opening whistle thanks in part to the ball-winning duo of Miko Myszka and Hayden Hoelting in the middle of the park and some terrific work from the trio of Marcus Cullotta, Matthew Fouch and Rique Huezo.

"Our midfield did a great job tonight winning a lot of 50/50 balls, finding our guys up-top and just working hard on defense," said Huezo.

The junior created a corner for the home side early on, then later played a wonderful ball to Fouch who forced Broncos keeper Evan Ryder to punch the ball out of the area.

Jack Ball was called upon to challenge yet another nice piece of combination play from Myszka and Cullotta. His strong tackle ended the Knights hopes in the 18th minute.

"We had a lot of the play for most of the first half, but unfortunately it didn't end with us putting one into the back of the net," said Samp.

Barrington’s Ephraim Lee, who added pace and purpose from his outside back position, enjoyed plenty of touches. In the 26th minute, Lee provided a sensational crossfield ball to Max Golich.

The Broncos leading scorer (five goals) worked hard to claim a deep throw, which soon became a free kick following a foul on the hosts.

James Rollinson headed the serve wide.

"The first half was a little frustrating," said Steib. “We didn't match the energy that Prospect opened with, plus we had an inability to hunt down second-balls. We just were not being sharp and dynamic enough in the final third.”

Off a well-executed counter, Prospect’s Sebastian Parks unleashed a wicked left-footed blast that Ryder saved with confidence.

With the Knights making a concerted effort to defend as a team, which included having its front-runners tracking back to help. Barrington had few quality chances but almost found the opener just before intermission.

That's when Lee sent Mazgaj through with a brilliant early ball that found the runner on the tail-end of his center-channel run.

With a brave challenge off the line to stop Mazgaj, Knights keeper Griffin Whalen kept the game even.

Unfortunately, the 50/50 exchange left Whalen injured and forced him out of action for the rest of the contest.

Junior Oliver Dienhart took control of the Prospect net the rest of the way.

A Hayden Hoelting corner moments into the second half gave the Broncos faithful a nervous moment as the ball became more of a hot potato with a trio of Knights having close-range efforts blocked.

The close call appeared to jumpstart the dormant Broncos attack.

"(Steib) didn't give us a long halftime speech, but he did tell us we can play better, and that our effort can be much better," said Mazgaj. “I believe all of us went out and played at a higher level, which in the end gave us that extra edge to help us get this win.”

Nico Hauser, Magdiel Magdaleno, Patrick Tabb, Golich and Mazgaj were at the heart of the Broncos response to their mentor’s message.

The hosts counted themselves fortunate when a nasty snap-shot from 30 yards from Mazgaj rattled the back post.

"We were not organized in the midfield in the second half, and they were putting a lot of pressure on us on the outside with their wingers and outside backs," said Samp.

The home side came this close to striking first when a Casaletto free kick found the head of teammate Gavin Zemla at the back post.

Zemla's effort forced Ryder to make a close-range save at 58 minutes.

Play opened for both clubs as they searched for the game-winner.

Prospect got strong efforts from Cullotta, who went just wide, and Gabe Smolen, who steered his 35-yard attempt over the bar. Moments later Huezo flashed a lovely ball into the box to Cullotta, but Barrington’s Jack Ball was there and parried it out of the area.

Plenty of pace from Hauser, Magdaleno, and Mazgaj forced Prospect to labor in its own end far more than it would have liked. When a deep throw from Hauser found its way through, there was the ever-opportunistic Krause.
 
"Everything kind of happened quickly on that throw-in. I was a little lucky, but I found the ball there for me to put it into the net," said Krause with a smile.

"Our second half was so much better," said a pleased Steib. “Our backline played really well to limit Prospect’s chances. We won so many more first- and second-balls in the midfield, and we made a lot happen because of our energy and pace.

"We did a lot of good things after the break to grab back the momentum, and it paid off for us with that goal from Krause."

"It was a tough loss, " said Huezo, who complimented teammates Hoelting and Andrew Moreth for their efforts on the night. “But I felt like we played well, and that we're getting better each time out.”

Moreth and Quinn Zinzer are the Knights new central back partnership on a club that features nine sophomores.

"We're a really young team, began Samp. “There's a learning process that we have to go through in order to become a better and more competitive team.

"We needed to possess the ball better in the second half, be more dynamic and disciplined as well, but I see a lot of good things coming out of this game despite the loss."

The Knights fell 3-1 at Conant on Thursday night. Prospect (2-4-3, 1-3-1) will train until their next match, when Fremd visits on Tuesday.

Barrington (5-2-3, 2-2-0) won its third-straight match and evened their lead mark with a 1-0 victory over Wheeling on Thursday at Barrington Community Field. Next up is a road trip to Hersey at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Starting lineups

Barrington (4-5-1)
GK- Evan Ryder
D- Ephraim Lee
D- James Rollinson
D- Jack Ball
D- Derek Lodes
M- Magdiel Magdaleno
M- Brian Mazgaj
M- Patrick Tabb
M- Alex Liapis
M- Nico Hauser
F- Max Golich

Prospect (4-3-3)
GK- Griffin Whalen
D- Elijah Mueller
D- Andrew Moreth
D- Quinn Zinzer
D- Cristos Natsis
M- Rique Huezo
M- Hayden Hoelting
M- Miko Myszka
F- Michael Casaletto
F- Matthew Fouch
F- Marcus Cullotta

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Brian Mazgaj, jr., MF, Barrington

Scoring summary

First half
No scoring

Second half
Barrington: Krause (Hauser), 73'