Rockets blow by Hampshire

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:24PM

From the very outset Tuesday night, Burlington Central's soccer team left little doubt who deserved to take home the Big Northern Conference East Division title.

The Rockets came out fast and dominated early in the first and second half, then played a complete match to claim a 4-1 victory over Hampshire and repeat as conference champions for the first time in school history.

"Something that we've really stressed is coming out the first 10 minutes and just going as hard as we can," said Central junior forward Christopher Gousios, who controlled the ball throughout the night. "A lot of times that's when teams are going to be at their weakest.

"So we wanted to make sure we were at our strongest and put teams away the first 10 minutes of each half."

The Rockets scored in the fifth minute when freshman John Sespene made his sixth goal of the season off Alejandro Nava's assist, then kept right on attacking Hampshire goalie Marcus Quick. Sespene wound up with his seventh goal later in the half off for a 3-0 lead off another Nava assist, and Gousios scored the second goal off Sespene's assist.

On each one the Rockets (15-3-3, 9-1) capitalized on a deflection or a ball that wasn't cleared. The ball deflected directly to Gousios, and he merely had to kick it into an empty right side of the net from the goal box for the second score. Sespene's second goal came when Quick gambled on a ball that deflected free in front of the net. Sespene beat him to the ball and had an easy score.

"Bad breaks, bad bounces, they were right there to make the most of them," Hampshire coach John Gosling said. "I wouldn't even call them mistakes - just not clearing the ball.

"You can't get down to a team like that. They're a good team and they hold the ball."

That's what the Rockets did in the second half, and actually padded the lead with Kyle Reopelle's goal from the penalty arc on a free kick 16 minutes into the second half.

Central goalie Riley Jensen never really got tested until late in the contest. Bryan Contreras put one in off an assist by Ismael Morales with 4:18 to play, but a minute later Jensen provided the stop of the night when he handled a breakaway shot by Andrew Obmalay, storming in off the left side.

"For us, the biggest thing is we played a better second half than we normally have been doing this season," Central coach Mike Gecan said. "That was a big thing for us.

"I think the first half was the better half of the two. But at least we had a decent enough second half. In other games we've kind of made mistakes the second half and it hurt us."

The victory was a repeat, in essence. The Rockets handled Hampshire (14-6-1, 8-2) earlier in the year on their own field.

"I think this is one of the best teams I've ever coached since I've been at Central, the boys in particular," Gecan said. "They showed what they are capable of. Taking it to them on their senior night was tough."

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