Girls soccer: Burlington Central headed to 2A sectional final

Burlington Central girls soccer coach Jess Arneson could finally breathe a little easier.

Spearheaded by a pair of goals from Megan Majewski, Central was able to outlast pesky Marian Central 2-0 in semifinal action of the Class 2A Hampshire sectional Wednesday.

The Rockets (22-2-2) will take on Sycamore for the sectional crown Saturday at 1 p.m. Sycamore defeated Boylan Catholic 2-1 in Wednesday's second game.

The Rockets will be seeking their first sectional title in girls soccer on Saturday. They tied Sycamore 1-1 on April 8 this season but lost to the Spartans in regional finals the last 2 years.

Marian Central ends the 2017 campaign with a 10-8-1 record.

"Marian is a tough team to play because they are so physical," said Arneson. "They are a team that plays so hard. We executed when we had to."

Central. which out shot the Hurricanes 9-2 scored first with 11:27 elapsed in the game, when Majewski off an assist from Sydney Pryor, gave the Rockets a 1-0 advantage.

Majewski tallied her second goal of the game off an assist by Pryor with 4:35 remaining in the game.

"Sydney gave me great passes on both goals," said Majewski. "It was nice to get that second goal. That gave us a little bit of cushion. Playing for a sectional championship is where we want to be."

The Rockets had golden opportunities in each half to add to the lead.

With 11:11 left in the first half, Majewski off a corner kick from Anna McMahon, fired a shot over the goal.

Attempting to score an insurance goal, an uncontested header by Jordan King with 13:20 left in the contest sailed over the net.

"It was very nerve-racking not to get that second goal until later in the game," said Arneson. "Marian Central is an excellent team and is capable of scoring at any time. It was nice to finally to score that insurance goal."

The Hurricanes' best chance to score came with 11:58 left in the game when Karli Blaz's direct kick from 20 yards out hit off the post.

Mackenzie Schwalbach collected 7 saves for the Canes while Erin Rafferty made 2 saves for the winners.

"It was a great effort by our girls," said Marian Central coach Karl Smith. "Burlington Central is a very athletic team and their defense didn't allow us to run much of an offense because of their quickness and pressure. We knew we had to get some goals from corner kicks and restarts. We were down 1-0 at halftime and that was the score for a lot of the second half. We felt we could get a goal and tie the score."