Boys soccer: Knych scores twice, lifts Burlington Central past Sycamore
Sam Knych scored twice and Burlington Central defeated Sycamore 2-0 during Tuesday’s Class 2A Burlington Central Regional semifinal.
Burlington Central (9-9-1) advances to Saturday’s regional championship against top-seeded Rockford Boylan Catholic at noon.
With the gusting winds at their backs in the first half, the Rockets took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Knych scored with 13:31 remaining.
“We won the ball back and it was a great ball from AJ (Valladares),” Knych said. “He was just ‘Go, go, go,’ and he gave me the perfect ball. I couldn’t have asked for a better one and I just slotted it in.”
Sycamore (16-8-1) wasn’t able to create much offensively in the first half.
“I think we just came out flying and coaches talked to us before the game and motivated us well, and we came out flying,” Rockets senior Noah Rosborough said “We were playing our way, keeping the ball on the floor and they could’t break out of it, couldn’t break out of us pressing them. It was perfect.”
Rosborough played a long ball over the top to set up Knych for his second goal, while the wet field conditions were deserving of a bit of an assist.
“Their guy slipped because the field was all muddy and wet,” Rosborough said. “Sam is there pressing on his back, easy goal.”
Disallowing any set pieces was key since they’ve been a pain in their collective necks all fall. It helped them win their first home post-season game since 2013.
“In conference we only gave up five goals that were not on set pieces out of 17 goals,” Rockets coach Dean Ames said. “So we don’t give up a ton on the field, but it tends to come from the set piece side.”
Sycamore senior Gavin Crouch, who was celebrating his 18th birthday, had a couple of free kick chances in the second half that challenged the Rockets.
His younger brother, sophomore Andre Crouch, blasted a line shot to Burlington Central junior goalkeeper Antonio Amoto late. Senior Nathan Sears, who missed the majority of the season with an injury, and sophomore Leo Padilla, also fired shots in Amoto’s direction.
“With this wind you got to serve those balls in there,” Spartans coach Kevin Bickley said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. The ball bounces around. The goalkeeper made a really good save at the end there. It’s a game of inches and it’s a (No. 4 vs. No. 5) game and you should expect a game like that. Proud of the guys. They battled all the way. Happy for the seniors and sad at the same time knowing it’s their last game and we had such a great season. To lose after one game is pretty tough, but it shouldn’t define us.”
The Spartans hadn’t lost this month.
“I mean, it’s a great season and unfortunately all but one team has to have this feeling there at the end,” Bickley said. “And it shouldn’t define this group and how they played all season. We had a great record and some great wins this year. It’s just unfortunate, and the conditions, obviously, we both had to play in them, but it’s been nice all season and, of course, the last game we got to play in something like this, but they battled until the end.”