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Boys soccer: Second-half goals lift Aurora Central to regional title

After a scoreless first half, Harvest Christian boys soccer coach Sina Vidic hoped for a momentum changing play during the second 40 minutes in Monday's Class 1A regional championship match against host Aurora Central Catholic.

Vidic got his wish - a Harvest save on an ACC penalty kick early in the second half - but the advantage eventually swung to the Chargers' side. Six and a half minutes later, a Kyle Cerzak goal broke the deadlock and put ACC on the path to a 2-0 win and its first regional title in 4 years.

The Charges advance to the Rockford Christian sectional where they will play Stillman Valley in the second semifinal match at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

"I think the momentum swung when we saved the PK. We had a period where the momentum swung our way," Vidic said. "We had crossbar off that and a post. I really thought we were going to break through with a goal but it just never happened. They scored one and another one slipped through our goalie's hands. I think the second goal really put us away."

After Czerak was fouled in Harvest's penalty box 2 minutes into the second period, classmate George Yanez took the penalty kick but Lions goalkeeper Matthew Baron dove to his left to make the save.

In the 49th minute, Cerzak, headed the ball into the back of the net from 20 yards out, after taking a pass from Jonas Cebulski.

"We were waiting all day for it and finally it came," Cerzak said. "We put a lot of balls in the air, that's how we have scored most of our goals this season."

Five minutes later, Juan Alanis booted in the ball across the goal line from the right sideline.

The Chargers' defense worked as plan, according to ACC coach Jose Barrientos.

"Our strategy worked today. We knew they had an excellent goalie. He punts the ball 60, 70 yards so we closed the lanes," Barrientos said. "We were able to play our defensive style. We plugged the middle with our midfielders and defenders were moving all the time."

Harvest (10-9-2) defenders stymied ACC's attacks in the first half. Most of the action took place on the Lions' side of the pitch, but the Chargers could not finish their plays. Baron made a total of 10 saves during the match. The Chargers stepped up their attack during the second half.

"Coach was really fired up at halftime. He really got into us. He know we were playing slow in the first half. He knew we could play better and we did too," Cerzak said. "We came out and played a lot better in the second half."

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