Sycamore ousts Burlington Central
The Sycamore girls soccer team figured a quick strike might lead to a better outcome.
The Spartans were knocked out of the playoffs last season by Burlington Central and they dropped a 3-0 decision to the same Rockets earlier this spring.
Falling behind Central in Friday's Class 2A regional final simply wasn't part the host Spartans' plan.
Ella Holland took a cross-box feed from Alyssa Hemmerich and knocked inside the far post 87 seconds into the match to give Syamore a lead it would never relinquish. The Spartans added a second goal in the 16th minute from Alyssa Maillefer and withstood a second-half header from Central's Elizabeth Gousios to prevail 2-1.
"We were sitting back on our heels quite a bit on defense," Central coach Jess Arneson said of the opening minutes. "We shouldn't have come out that way. We should have come out and pressed hard on offense because that's what we're good at."
Sycamore played like the inspired aggressor from the opening touch.
"Knowing that you lost to a team gives you more drive to beat them the next time around," Maillefer said. "I think that actually helped us."
Sycamore (18-5) advances to a Rockford Boylan sectional semifinal against Freeport on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
The Spartans' second goal was set up beautifully by Holland. She beat a defender to the outside and sent a crossing pass to Maillefer, who later said of her deflection: "Ella beat the defenders. I was just there."
Down 2-0, Central changed tactics at the half. Freshman goalkeeper Erin Rafferty replaced sophomore Abbigal Ciganek, and the Rockets took a more aggressive posture offensively, playing their defense high and risking odd-man breaks to generate chances.
The strategy paid off with just under 11 minutes to play when Central gained a corner kick. Jordan King sent the ball into traffic in front of Sycamore keeper Amanda Cook. The junior didn't stand a chance of stopping the header by Gousios, which bounced into the net to halve the lead.
Rafferty kept the Rockets in the match with 3:05 left when she raced out of her net to cut off the angle on Maillefer's breakaway. Rafferty's sliding block of the breakaway was her second such play of the half. She made a similar play to stop Emma Stice 15 minutes earlier.
"You have to stop the ball before anything else," Rafferty said of stopping breakaways. "The ball is the biggest priority in the game."
The Rockets were unable to create many opportunities after the Gousios goal, but the loss didn't diminish an excellent season for a team that won the Big Northern East for the first time in four seasons.
"We wanted more," Arneson said. "This is my first year as a coach and they provided me with the greatest season. They were a team with diversity in terms of their ages and their talent levels and they came together like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes I think it's more important to measure that than measuring how we finished the season. They learned so much and I'm proud of them for that."