Girls soccer: Kaneland, Burlington Central ousted in sectional semifinals
Natalie Myers and the Kaneland defense faced a continuous onslaught from the Boylan Catholic offense on Wednesday in a Class 2A Belvidere sectional semifinal.
For more than 86 minutes the senior goalie made save after save to keep it a one-score game. But the Titans connected twice in the final 2½ minutes for the 3-0 win.
“We watched film and knew they were a very good attacking team,” Myers said. “It’s definitely a mental game. I prepared a lot for this. I faced a lot of shots over the years. I save what I can and had to be ready for anything. My defense stops a lot of shots, so I’m very lucky.”
Boylan advances to face NIC-10 foe Belvidere North in the title game at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Thunder beat Burlington Central 1-0 in the early game Wednesday.
In the late game, the Titans (16-2-2) spent the entire game attacking. After Myers kept turning away shots, Delilah Hawley found Joscelyn Posada right in front of the net on a cross from the left side. Posada knocked it home past Myers with a perfectly placed goal.
Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said his team played much better in the second half.
“They were fast, they were aggressive and they won all the 50-50 balls,” Parillo said. “We told them at half we had to start winning more 50-50 balls, and then we did. We started winning the ball more in the air, but we just didn’t do it enough.”
The Knights (18-6-2) had a chance to tie things up in the 84th minute. Taylor Mills got off a roller from the far left side but pushed it too far to the right.
Mary Therese Harrison punched home an insurance goal with 3:53 left. With 2:20 left, Posada scored again.
“When you face a team like this you can’t make those key mistakes because they are going to make you pay for it. And they did,” Parillo said. “They punished us when we needed to be punished. And we do that same thing too, punish when the other team needs to be punished. This time the roles reversed a little bit.”
The season ends for the Knights with a regional title and as co-Interstate 8 champions. They scored 109 goals this year, which Parillo said he believes is a school record.
“I thought it went well,” Parillo said. “This is not how you want it to end. ... I hoped we’d go a little further. Sometimes it just goes this way. But it was a great senior group. Great group of girls. Laughed a lot. We were just having a good time.”
Parillo said it was a great way for Myers to end her career. The senior said she was proud of all the team accomplished.
“We won regionals for the first time in a long time,” Myers said. “It’s really great to be a part of the team that accomplished that. We accomplished a lot over the course of the season.”
In the early game, the season came to an end for the Rockets (11-11). Haylee Gallas connected for the Thunder (18-2-2) in the 58th minute.
The Rockets spent much of the game attacking the net, including a lot in the final, frantic 15 minutes. Elsa Carlson and Kendall Grigg had good looks but Kallie Murphy kept turning them away.
“We didn’t play bad at all,” Burlington Central coach Jess Arneson said. “We dominated quite a bit especially in the first half. We had some shots and unfortunately sometimes it just doesn’t fall your way.”
With no seniors on this year’s roster, Arneson said she’s excited for next year.
“This was a pretty good year,” Arneson said. “It’s hard to have no seniors, especially at the end. It’s like, who do you fight for? Sometimes the seniors give it a little extra oomph. But what I saw today, they were fighting until the end. So next year it’s just going to be all that more special.”