No. 2 C-G falls to No. 3 Barrington

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LAKE ZURICH – Tuesday night’s IHSA Class 3A Lake Regional semifinal started promisingly for second-seeded Cary-Grove’s boys soccer team, but third-seeded Barrington pulled out a 2-1 victory.

Senior forward Brendan McCarthy scored on the Trojans’ first shot off a pass from Jon Guay.

“Guay was really composed and gave me a perfect ball to score on, and I finished it,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy’s goal eight minutes in gave the Trojans (12-4) a shot of confidence.

“It was a huge momentum boost for the team to get that early goal,” Trojans senior goalkeeper Will Higgins said.

However, C-G could not extend the lead, and the Broncos battled back.

Barrington (7-14-2) tied the score with less than 11 minutes remaining in the first half on a goal by Andrew Krissinger. And despite a closely fought second half by the Trojans, Marc Drouin scored on a 40-yard free kick by Dan Barber to seal the Broncos’ win.

“Last year, we graduated nine starters, and I’m really proud of the way our seniors stepped up this year and led the team,” C-G coach Mark Olson said. Other seniors included midfielder Matt Latawiec, CJ Arenberg and Richard Smallwood, defenders Elliot Ireland and Ryan Melone, and goalkeeper Zac Cheatle.

The Trojans stayed in the game partly because of the play of Higgins, who made nine saves. He thwarted several promising scoring opportunities for the Broncos in the second half.

“In the second half both teams played very even, and their keeper played great, and we were fortunate to get the game-winning goal late,” Barrington coach Scott Steib said.

In Tuesday’s first semifinal game, Lake Zurich beat Dundee-Crown, 7-1. Senior midfielder Nathan Kirchhoff scored the Chargers’ only goal in the season-ending loss.