It's on to state for Burlington Central

Burlington Central's boys soccer team formed a large circle at midfield and celebrated a historic win Tuesday night.

But their coach remained calm, allowing his players to enjoy something they worked so hard to accomplish.

Burlington Central ran past Lakes 4-1 in the Class 2A Barrington supersectional for its first trip to state.

“This is the calmest I've ever been,” Rockets coach Michael Gecan said. “Our kids have a lot of confidence. The pressure was on to help this team (achieve) the first goal of winning a regional. Everything else has been a bonus. ... It's (the players') time, not mine.”

Burlington Central (20-4-3) will play Ridgewood at 11 a.m. Friday at North Central College in Naperville.

Getting this far hasn't surprised Gecan and his players.

“I knew we were very good, and I thought we had a good chance to win the regional,” Gecan said.

The Rockets started the scoring in the 31st minute. Erick Uribe finished a rebound of a Christopher Gousios shot that went off the hands of Lakes keeper William Hill (4 saves).

Bryce Warner scored the Rockets' second tally in the 48th minute. A minute earlier, Burlington Central had a goal waved off for offsides. Warner happened to be the one that was caught offsides.

He made up for it with a sliding goal near the back post for his first goal of the season. Gousios earned the assist.

“I saw the defender slide and the ball got under him,” Warner said. “I was able to tap it in with my toe.”

Warner had just returned to the Rockets lineup after missing two games with an injured ankle. He was moved upfront for the game from defense.

“I was nervous and just played with a lot of heart,” Warner said.

The Rockets added a couple of goals for insurance.

Grant Stoneman scored off an assist from Gousios in the 52nd minute, and Gousios finished off a breakaway in the 75th minute.

Burlington Central keeper Riley Jensen made 7 saves.

Lakes (11-10-5) got its only goal in the 74th minute, when Nathan McMahon scored off a free kick from Scott Brugioni.

The Eagles had several opportunities to score in the first half. Brian Werchek was stopped on a one-on-one and Jonathan Stanley headed a ball off the crossbar in the final 10 seconds, leaving the Eagles down 1-0 at the break.

“Once (Burlington Central) got its second goal, it was hard to get something back,” Lakes coach Kevin Kullby said.

Lakes will be losing only three seniors.

“Hopefully, we can learn from this experience and we can come back with a chip on our shoulder,” Kullby said. “It was nice to get here. We won a sectional and had a good run at the end. I thought we played well. We got beat by a team (Burlington Central) that made the best out of their chances.”