Burlington, South Elgin to meet for tourney title

Burlington Central got lucky holding off the rain.

Erick Uribe scored a goal 46 seconds into the second half as Central downed the Knights 3-0 in the final game of pool play in the Rocket Invite Thursday night.

"The first 5 minutes were the difference in the game," said Uribe, who notched his fifth goal in 4 games. "I'm glad I got that finish."

Central advances to Saturday's championship game at 1 p.m. against South Elgin, a 4-1 victor over DeKalb. The Rockets are hoping that the momentum carries until then much like it did after Uribe's goal.

"That really picked us up a lot," Central coach Mike Gecan said. "It felt good to get a little cushion there."

Central (4-0) scored its first goal early in the game when John Sespene drilled a shot past Kaneland goalkeeper J.P. Minogue (10 saves) just 6 minutes, 50 seconds into play. The goal stood for the rest of the first half.

Kaneland (2-1) was unable to score as Central goalkeeper Riley Jensen finished the game with 3 saves. The Knights did have a good scoring opportunity late in the first half, but Central's defense responded to deflect a shot out of the goal box and preserve the 1-0 halftime lead.

"(Central) came out ready to play and we didn't," Knights' coach Scott Parillo said. "I think our youth finally showed today."

Central scored its final goal when Chris Gousois drove the ball down the field and connected on a shot with 13:45 left in the game.

South Elgin 4, DeKalb 1: The Storm toughed out a physical game in order to win its pool. South Elgin got a hat trick from Mike Kosielek, including a pair of goals in the second half, and 4 saves from Jarod Scheiler to help lead it to the victory.

Kosielek and DeKalb's Adam Lorenz swapped goals in the first half before South Elgin (3-2) exploded for 3 scores in the second half. The barrage of scoring led to a frustrated DeKalb (1-1-1) turning the game much more physical.

"As long as we kept composed, that's the key in these situations," Kosielek said.

Bryan Irwin gave the Storm a 2-1 lead just 3 minutes, 51 seconds into the second half after bouncing the ball past Lorenz (11 saves). Kosielek then made it a 3-1 advantage when he drove the middle of the field past a pair of Barb defenders and drilled the ball from 25 yards out to get the score.

He added the final scored with just 3 minutes, 22 seconds left to play on another breakaway shot to notch the hat trick.

"This is the possession game we were looking for," Storm coach John Uvegas said. "I'm glad it came. If we continue to play like this, it's going to come all year."