Burlington tips Hampshire in OT
The Burlington Central girls soccer team got a little payback Tuesday evening.
A week after Hampshire ended the Rockets’ hopes of an unbeaten Big Northern East regular season, Central ended the rival Whip-Purs’ season.
Lexi Kern scored 3:26 into overtime to give the Rockets a 2-1 victory in the Class 2A Hampshire regional semifinals.
“It’s awesome,” said Kern, a sophomore. “I’m really happy to finish that one.”
The second-seeded Rockets (14-6-1) advance to face top seed Marian Central at 11 a.m. Saturday in the regional championship. The Rockets lost to Marian Central 2-0 earlier in the season.
“We’re one step closer to where we want to be,” Burlington Central coach Mike Gecan said. “Getting to the regional (final) was one of our goals. Much respect for Hampshire. It’s nice to be able to get that win considering we lost last Tuesday.”
Hampshire (13-6-4) started quickly. Karla Vietinghoff ran down a cross inside the Rockets’ penalty area and cut the ball back toward the middle. Jori Anderson ran onto the ball and fired a right-footed blast past Central goalkeeper Caitlin Solberg with 30:36 left in the first half.
The Rockets threatened very little the first 55 minutes, but tied the game with 22:32 remaining in the second half. Michelle Fowler ran onto a long ball from Maddie Stoneman on the left side. Fowler’s left-footed shot from just inside the penalty area beat Whip-Purs goalkeeper Alex Dumoulin.
“We needed that goal,” Fowler said. “That brought our intensity up so much more. I think we played so much better from there.”
Each team had a scoring opportunity in the first 2 ½ minutes of overtime, but Solberg (9 saves) and Dumoulin (4 saves) made stops.
Camille Dela Cruz started the play for the Rockets’ game-winner. She got the ball near midfield and dribbled almost 40 yards before finding Fowler on the left side. Fowler crossed the ball. Heather Krup and Kern were there, but Kern had the better shot and Krup got out of the way. Kern’s shot was low and to the far post, giving Dumoulin little chance to make the save.
“It was a good work ethic from Heather Krup to run right down the middle there, draw the whole defense and turn like that and let Lexi have it,” Gecan said. “That’s very unselfish. That’s what you want from a senior leader.”
“It is a tough way to lose,” Hampshire coach Pat O’Brien said. “That’s IHSA soccer. You go into overtime and someone is going to be happy at the end. It wasn’t us tonight.”