Girls soccer: Kollhoff's 2 late goals lift Burlington Central over Crystal Lake South
After battling Crystal Lake South in a scoreless duel for 76 minutes, Burlington Central thought it would finally get an opportunity to break the deadlock in its own Class 2A regional semifinal match Tuesday night.
A South defender tripped Zoey Kollhoff right at the penalty box boundary with 3:53 left in the match. Rocket fans felt the junior forward should be awarded a penalty kick. But after a conference, the referees decided the foul did not occur in the penalty area and awarded her a free kick from just outside the left corner of the box. Her kick cleared a wall of five Gator defenders but bounced off the top of the net.
Immediately after the kick, momentum did swing Central's way. Kollhoff scored two goals 76 seconds apart to give the Rockets a 2-0 win and a berth in the regional final on Friday night against Prairie Ridge.
The victory was also the 100th career win for fifth-year Rockets coach Jessica Arneson.
On Central's next possession after the free kick, Issabella Hartmann corralled the ball on the far side of the field and from 30 yards out passed it to Kollhoff. The junior got past the Gator defense and shot the ball in the back of the net with 3:17 left to play.
"Issabella played an absolutely beautiful ball through," Kollhoff said. "I knew where the goal was and I hit it just right past the goalie."
Kollhoff scored again at 2:01 mark. She received a pass at midfield, dribbled past the South defense and knocked the ball in from 20 yards out.
"An interesting game to do it (100th win) on. It was very stressful," Arneson said about the win. "(A goal) was going to come. We could feel it, we just need to stay composed, we needed to relax and put it away."
Up until the 77th minute, the Rockets (14-4-1) were unable to successfully finish an attack. Either the Gators' back line would break up the play, attempts would go wide or South (6-13-1) goalkeeper Maggie Rimer (6 saves) would stop the shots.
"Our girls executed the game plan that was put together." South coach Kyle McCaughn said. "We just wanted to limit their runs, play the ball out early, not give them any chances."
The Gators' offense was equally unsuccessful. Most of the action took place on South's side of the pitch. When the Gators did advanced the ball into the Rocket territory, the team's defense stymied the attack. South was unable to take any shots on goal.
"We focus on not allowing any shots in the red zone, the area right in front of our goal. We want to push them out wide to make it easier on our keeper," Arenson said. "So if they have no shots, the only thing that is left is defensive mistakes and we can take care of those."
Prairie Ridge, which won the first semifinal by 8-0 over Hampshire, and Central last met in a Rochelle sectional semifinal game last year. The Rockets won, 2-0.