Hampshire, Burlington Central advance to title game
Jose Hernandez made sure the few scoring chances the Hampshire boys soccer team got Saturday morning were going to count.
The junior scored two second-half goals to help the Whip-Purs to a 2-1 victory over South Elgin in the Hampshire tournament.
“We didn’t have many opportunities, but we were clinical on finishing,” Hernandez said. “I think we were just more effective with our attack than they were.”
The Whips (5-8-1) went on to win their second game of the day 8-1 over Christian Liberty to advance to next Saturday’s 2 p.m. championship game against Burlington Central, which defeated Woodstock North and Rockford Auburn Saturday. South Elgin, which came back to beat Christian Liberty, will take on Auburn at noon next Saturday for third place.
The Storm (4-5-2) had dominated possession in the first half against Hampshire and had more of it in the second half as well. The Storm took the lead with 24:20 remaining in the first half as Kristoph Mikhail put home a rebound off an Adam Smith shot.
Hampshire did not have a shot on goal in the opening half, but tied the match early in the second half. Hernandez took a pass from Daniel Rodriguez and put a left-footed shot past Storm goalkeeper Richard Groenewegen with 33:41 remaining in the second half.
Hernandez gave the Whip-Purs the lead with 12:46 remaining. He ran onto a ball from Tyler Koppie on the right side of the penalty area. Hernandez cut the ball back to get it onto his left foot and again beat Groenewegen.
“We’re not going to be team that always is going to get a lot of chances,” Hampshire coach John Gosling said. “We haven’t been able (to finish chances) in a bunch of games. It’s good to see.”
Hampshire goalkeeper Andy Pederson kept his team in the match in the first half and then protected the lead. The junior made 12 saves, including two within seconds with just under 15 minutes to go. He stopped Isaac Perez’s initial shot and Mikhail’s rebound with his foot to keep the match tied at that point.
“(Pederson) did a lot for us. If it wasn’t for him being really solid in goal, they could have had 4 goals on us,” Hernandez said.
The Storm had several other chances to put shots on Pederson, but failed to take a shot.
“We don’t take advantages of our chances that we should,” Storm coach Nathaniel Bowman said. “It’s a matter of putting the ball in the net. That’s really all it is.”
Hampshire 8, Christian Liberty 1: Jose Hernandez (2), Jose Cruz, Douglas Stuehler (2), Michael Boutin, Danny Rodriguez and Tyler Fairwood scored for the Whips. Andy Pederson had 5 saves.
Burlington Central 7, Woodstock North 1: Allen Camarena had a hat trick for the Rockets, while Matt O’Connor, AJ Gevriatis and Chris Leberecht scored once each. Brett Rau made 2 saves in goal and Nikola Filipac had 1.
Burlington Central 7, Rockford Auburn 0: Sean Fitzgerald had 2 goals, while Stefan Jochum, Gevriatis, O’Connor, Paolo Sespene and Leberecht each scored once as the Rockets won their 10th straight. Brett Rau made 1 save in goal for BC (12-1).
South Elgin 9, Christian Liberty 0: Jose Gomez and Nathan Fisher each scored twice, with Kristoph Mikhail, Owen Bott, Issac Perez, Adam Smith, and Richard Groenewegen adding a goal each for the Storm. Groenewegen and Gomez split time in goal, each making 1 save.
John Radtke contributed to this report