Girls Soccer: Barrington upsets Conant

Updated: April 13, 2012 10:21PM

In preparation for the match against No.2 Conant, Barrington coach Ryan Stengren emphasized two key areas where he felt his team needed to be particularly strong in order to upset the Cougars.

One area was to play a disciplined defensive game against the Cougars’ powerful attack, which features University of Kentucky recruit Courtney Raetzman. The second was to capitalize on its advantage in the air.

Stengren’s emphasis paid off Friday, as Barrington jumped out to a quick two-goal advantage en route to a 3-0 win.

Sophomore Ellie Ackermann opened the scoring in the 14th minute, and the Fillies’ Anna Burnidge scored less than two minutes later. Both goals were assisted by Barrington players who beat a Conant defender in the air.

“It was very important,” Ackermann said of taking an early lead on Conant. “I know Stengren said once we score one, we have to keep coming back, score more and just keep attacking the net.”

With a two-goal lead, the Fillies’ focus shifted to taking away Raetzman and snuffing out Conant’s offense. Barrington’s disciplined, physical defense did both, holding Raetzman to one shot in the game and the Cougars to only one clean scoring attempt on freshman goalkeeper Hannah Luedtke.

“It was all about us being disciplined,” said Stengren, whose team improved to 7-3 overall and 6-0 in the Mid-Suburban League. “This was probably the most disciplined defensive game that we’ve played the whole year. We played very well and, in my opinion, we played one of the best attacking players in the state and did a great job defending her. From that standpoint, I was really impressed.”

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