Barrington 3, Buffalo Grove 1
THE SKINNY
These two Mid-Suburban League foes were more evenly matched than their seeds indicated. Barrington, a No. 1 seed, had beaten Buffalo Grove, a No. 15, 1-0 in a closely contested match Sept. 24. Friday night, with a consistent rain falling, the Bison (9-8-6) netted the first goal eight minutes into the match. But the Broncos did not panic. They patiently worked to create scoring chances and after tying the game later in the first half, scored twice in a span of 1:49 in the second half to pull away. Barrington (19-3-4) wins the Class 3A Mundelein Sectional and will face the winner of Saturday’s Evanston Sectional final in the supersectional round Tuesday.
TURNING POINT
At the 27:36 mark of the second half, Barrington forward David Conrad headed in a ball past Bison keeper Ricardo Valencia for a 2-1 Broncos lead. Barrington kept pressuring Buffalo Grove, and less than two minutes later, defender Jamie Tausend directed a pass into the Bison box to another defender, Shawn Owen, who put the ball away to make it 3-1 Barrington.
THE STAR
Conrad, a senior, scored in the Broncos’ 3-1 sectional semifinal win over Lake Forest Tuesday and has been one of the team’s more consistent forwards of late.
BY THE NUMBERS
Barrington wins its first sectional since 2007, when it won the state championship.
QUOTABLE
“We have a lot of guys that are confident right now. We have an identity and we know how we want to play.” — Barrington coach Scott Steib
