Girls soccer: Burlington Central claims regional plaque

Though Friday's precipitation ended just before kickoff, goals rained during Burlington Central's Class 2A regional title match with Dixon. After the game, which the Rockets won 7-2, there was an absolute deluge of hugs, singing and celebrating as Central celebrated its first regional title since 2014.

"We only have two people on this team who have ever won a regional," Central junior Jordan King said. "For us to come out and do this as a team and have momentum the whole game was really good."

Central (21-2-2) advances to the Hampshire sectional and the Rockets face Marian Central at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

"It was really exciting to be out here with an opportunity to win the regional again," Central senior Anna McMahon said. "We were really hungry for it. I think we felt really good about it coming in, established our ground and played well."

Dixon played a high defensive line and tried to work an offside trap against Central, but the Rockets broke it early and frequently. The opening hint that the Rockets were prepared for the tactic came 5 minutes into the match when Taylor Abbott fed Megan Majewski for a breakaway though Majewski pulled her shot wide.

Less than a minute later King passed to Majewski and this time Majewski scored. Fourteen minutes into the match, McMahon passed to King who scored to double the advantage and the Rockets relaxed at this point.

"The early goals really set the tone of the game," King said. "Early goals give you momentum and put the other team on their heels. With the high line, all you have to do is play the ball through the middle and someone can get a breakaway through it."

A McMahon cross came off the Dixon keeper's hands and fell to King who scored to put the Rockets up 3-0 with 10 minutes left in the half. Dixon rallied at that point, scoring twice before halftime through Taylor Toomsen and Lauren Chacon. At halftime, Central's lead was just 3-2.

"I think we play very, very well under pressure," McMahon said. "We've played tougher competition against ranked teams and 3A schools, and I think that helped us win this game."

McMahon scored twice, once from a penalty kick in the opening quarter-hour of the second half to calm any Central nerves. Majewski and Sydney Pryor added the Rockets' final goals.

"We've worked really hard to get the girls fired up and on the same page," Central coach Jessica Arneson said. "We had a couple of mental mistakes, but everything else was executed very well the way we wanted."