South Elgin blanks Burlington to win tourney title

Burlington Central boys soccer coach Mike Gecan thought his team would have the advantage in the second half Saturday afternoon against South Elgin.

Instead, the Storm took advantage.

South Elgin scored 4 goals attacking into the strong wind in the second half to beat the Rockets, 4-0, in the championship game of the Rocket Invitational.

"We've made a number of passes to their keeper. What's really nice when we didn't have the wind, the ball laid on our feet (instead of going to the keeper) and gave us opportunities to score," Storm coach John Uveges said. "That was kind of nice."

After a scoreless first half, Central (4-1) had a great scoring opportunity a minute and a half into the second half. Kyle Reopelle's shot was stopped by Storm goalkeeper Jarod Scheiler. South Elgin (4-2) quickly counterattacked. Mike Kozielek dribbled into the Central penalty area down the left side and beat goalkeeper Mathew Dahlberg for a 1-0 Storm lead with 38:05 left in the second half.

"We had a good offensive opportunity and got excited," Gecan said. "Then we got countered on really quick. They got the goal and that took everything out of sails."

South Elgin increased the lead to 2-0 with 23:28 remaining as Phil Saccameno converted on a penalty kick after being taken down in the penalty area.

Quinn Uveges made it 3-0 with 17:44 left. Kozielek scored off a rebound with 15:36 for a 4-0 South Elgin lead.

"It's big to get momentum going for the rest of the year," Kozielek said. "It's a good thing to win (the title). It helps everyone keep the momentum going."

The Rockets struggled to break through the Storm defense and when they did off shots Scheiler stopped them all. The junior finished with 6 saves.