Girls soccer: Cary-Grove dominates Dundee-Crown for regional title

Dundee-Crown girls soccer coach Sebastian Falinski was impressed.

"Cary-Grove has a very good accomplished program with a lot of talent," said the D-C coach. "They execute and are solid in all areas of the game."

Falinski's comments came after No. 2 seed Cary-Grove defeated the 10th-ranked Chargers 6-1 in the title game of the Class 3A Dundee-Crown regional Friday afternoon.

The Trojans (13-2-1) advance to the Guilford sectional to play the winner of the Auburn regional Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. D-C ends the season 9-9-1.

Charger goalkeeper Diana Santillian-Ceja was outstanding in goal keeping the Trojans off the scoreboard for nearly 24 minutes recording 10 saves.

Cary-Grove, which outshot the Chargers 26-4 in the match, strung together 3 goals in the final 16 minutes to lead 3-0 after 40 minutes.

Caitlin Scopa, Jenna Stayart and Kenedi Jones all found the net in the first half for the Trojans.

"We came out with high energy and created a lot of opportunities but their goalie (Santillian-Ceja) was outstanding," said Cary-Grove coach Ray Krystal. "It was frustrating but the girls stayed with it and we were able to finish."

The Trojans scored 3 insurance goals in the second half, two by Stayart and one from Avery Nielsen.

"We were frustrated early in the game and we kept shooting and we were able to finish," said Stayart, a sophomore. "This regional championship is for our great seniors. They work so hard and show great leadership to the younger players."

Krystal praised his talented sophomore.

"Jenna is a special kid and a special player," said Krystal. "She is a great teammate who is all about the team."

Santillian-Ceja enjoyed a phenomenal performance in her final game as a Charger with 20 saves.

"Diana, who battled a concussion early in the season, was outstanding in goal in the two regional games," said Falinski. "She is one of the reasons we beat Larkin and today she kept us in the game with some great saves."

Jocelyn Munoz had the lone goal for the Chargers.

"We came out early in the game a little afraid," said Falinski. "We gave them too many easy opportunities. Because of injuries we had an up and down season. But, the kids gave great effort and kept playing hard. The Larkin win was huge and gave us a chance to play in a regional championship game. A 9-9-1 record for all this team went through this season is quite an accomplishment."

Cary-Grove goalie McKenna Sheehan collected 3 saves for the regional champs.