Girls soccer: Burlington Central knocks off top-seeded Cary-Grove
Cary-Grove needed some kind of spark, something to generate some pressure and lift its energy to start the second half.
Burlington Central, leading by a goal, was determined to not let that happen.
The No. 4-seeded Rockets scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the second half and defeated top-seeded C-G, 3-0, in their Fox Valley Conference Girls Soccer Tournament semifinal game Wednesday. Burlington (11-5-1) advances to Saturday's championship game against either No. 3 Crystal Lake Central or No. 2 Prairie Ridge, which meet Thursday in the other semifinal at Prairie Ridge.
"We really wanted it. We came out hungry from the start," Burlington midfielder Reagan Oller said. "We lost to them earlier in a game we thought we should have won. We were up 1-0 and they ended up beating us. This time around we weren't going to give them that chance. We made sure we kept our lead."
Oller, who scored in the first half, sent a corner kick into the box that Haley Lindquist headed home 5 minutes into the second half for a 2-0 lead. Five minutes after that, Ava Elders added another goal for the Rockets.
"Something we struggled with a little bit was being able to play completely full intensity for both halves," Burlington coach Jessica Arneson said. "In the last two games they have totally turned that around and it's been amazing to watch them play."
C-G (9-2) had difficulties finding quality scoring chances. Whenever the Trojans started to make a run, a Rocket often was there to send it back the other way.
"We just came out and wanted it," Oller said. "We needed to outwork them and put away our chances. Everyone out there was super-hungry for it."
The Trojans, who were without injured midfielder Jordan Dale, meet No. 15-seeded Rockford East in Class 3A regional play next Wednesday. No. 2 C-G is the top seed in that regional.
"(Burlington) is a fast, skilled team. They matched up well with us," Trojans coach Ray Krystal said. "It was a tough game. At halftime we knew the type of team we were playing against and the level of pressure they could bring. We had to look at options we could take advantage to try to break their pressure."
C-G midfielder Kate Larry said Burlington's defense in the middle made it hard for the Trojans to play balls from defenders to midfielders and on to forwards.
"We needed to step up (after halftime)," Larry said. "They were outplaying us, they were getting every ball in the air. I felt like they wanted it more than we did. We're usually stronger in the second half. It was only 1-0, we had time, we just needed to come together, find each other and play with each other."
Burlington goalkeeper Kyla Butler finished with four saves. C-G keeper Sydney Schmidt had six.
"Team defense lately has been our thing," Arneson said. "We knew their central players (Larry and Katie Jannusch) are tough, fast and very dynamic. We focused on that quite a bit."