Duarte notches game-winner for Rosary against Kaneland

Rosary is proving to be a bad host - at least for those who come to their soccer field looking for a regional championship.

For the second straight season, the Royals have won a regional title as an underdog.

Last year Rosary won in penalty kicks 3-2 over Oswego. On Saturday, Sam Duarte knocked in the only score with 10 minutes left in the first half for a 1-0 victory over top seed Kaneland.

No. 2 Rosary (11-8-2) advances to the Class 2A Hampshire sectional for a semifinal matchup against Sycamore at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

"Second regional title in a row, it's great," Duarte said. "Two evenly matched teams. It was anybody's game."

Neither team had too many quality scoring chances in the first half. Kaneland star Emily Heimerdinger just missed three minutes into the match and shot wide a few minutes later.

After that, Rosary didn't let Heimerdinger get free very often. Molly Piech marked Heimerdinger and got help in the back from Katie Petrando and the rest of the back line.

"Molly did a great job marking No. 24 (Heimerdinger)," Rosary coach Kevin Callaghan said. "She pretty much stymied her."

Duarte's goal came on a shot from about 25 yards out that took a funny bounce. Kaneland keeper Jordan Ginther looked like she had the ball but it slipped past her and into the goal.

"I don't know what to say about it," Duarte said. "It was a far-out shot. It was definitely necessary to win the game. With two teams as close as we were it was kind of essential to get that first goal."

Duarte was as surprised as anyone that her shot became a goal.

"I really didn't (think it was going in)," Duarte said. "It became a much quicker paced game. We definitely picked it up after that."

Both teams had multiple scoring chances in the second half. Rosary hit one shot off the cross bar while the Knights kept Kaneland keeper Rachel Rivera busy.

Shelby Koester, Sophie Blank, Thalia Garcia and Colleen Gebauer all helped create chances for Kaneland while Taylor Gibson, Duarte, Laura Butz and Jessica Janota were among the Royals pushing for a second goal.

Ginther came back and made a couple outstanding saves to keep the Knights within 1-0.

"She has kept us in so many games," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said. "Sure we are disappointed it happened but we had an absolutely phenomenal season. We came short of one of our goals. We reached every other goal.

"My hats off to Rosary. They took advantage of the situation and was able to capitalize on it. Unfortunately we just couldn't do it today."

Kaneland (15-3-5) certainly had its chances. The Knights turned up the pressure with about 25 minutes left to play and had one scoring chance after another for the next 20 minutes.

"The ball has bounced our way all year," Parillo said. "It just didn't today."

The Knights graduate five seniors from a team that lost just three times.

"I'm proud of the girls," Parillo said. "I don't think anybody thought we'd do that well. It was so much fun to coach these girls. I feel really bad for the seniors."

Rosary's win also reversed a 1-0 loss to Kaneland in the Royals' home opener. Callaghan said the team has improved since then and is playing harder.

"All our back line defense played great and they had a little chip on their

shoulder from the first loss this season," Callaghan said. "Nobody ever figures that (goal) would be the difference in the ballgame. It was a very entertaining game. I have a lot of respect for his (Parillo's) girls and his team."

The Royals are going west for sectionals this year. Last year they lost their sectional semifinal to Joliet Catholic at Lemont.

"I think I'm just enjoying this one with the team. We'll deal with that (Sycamore) Monday at practice," Callaghan said. "We've played some good teams which will help us."