Rockets advances to to state tournament

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:10PM

The shutout streak ended, but that mattered little to Burlington Central's soccer team on Tuesday night.

The Rockets' 4-1 win against Lakes in the Barrington Class 2A Supersectional vaulted Central into this weekend's state finals at North Central College. Central (20-4-3) had never won a regional before this season.

"There's a little bit of shock," said Central coach Michael Gecan. "But we knew we were good enough to beat this team."

Central will face Ridgewood or Glenbard South in Friday's 11 a.m. state semifinal match.

Up until 5:41 was left in the match, it appeared as though Central was going to have its fourth shutout in a row, but Lakes (11-10-5) was able to net a goal, ending the Rockets' defensive streak.

But on the offensive side, the Rockets came out of their shell for the first time in a few matches.

Senior defender Zachary Jochum said the playing tough defense was the plan all along.

"Going into the second half with a 1-0 lead, we knew that's good enough to win," he said. "We wanted to shut them out."

The match started as a defensive struggle between the teams with back-and-forth action. But with 9:41 left before halftime senior midfielder Erick Uribe drove the ball into the net off a rebound of a shot by junior midfielder Christopher Gousios.

With a 1-0 lead in the waning minutes of the first half, the Rockets were not able to get comfortable as the Eagles' offense bombarded them with an onslaught of shots, including four corner kicks in the last minute of play.

The second half opened with a bang as Rockets junior goalkeeper Riley Jensen made a save from point-blank range. Jensen, who had blanked Central's previous three opponents, made eight saves for the match.

"Riley Jensen just absorbed the ball on that play," Gecan said. "But he's been making great saves all season."

That stop led to the Rockets scoring a goal 20 seconds later when sophomore defender Bryce Warner tallied off a Gousios assist with 32:21 left in the second half.

Warner applauded Gousios' performance and said the team playing as a whole was important.

Rockets freshman midfielder Grant Stoneman then broke the match open at 21:07, breaking away from defenders and shooting the ball into the upper-left portion of the net to put his team up 3-0. Gousios picked up his third assist for the match on the play as well.

As the second half wound down, tensions rose some.

Eagles midfielder Nate McMahon was given a yellow card, but returned to score the lone goal for Lakes with 5:41 left in the match off a Scott Brugioni assist.

But the Rockets responded within a minute of McMahon's goal, as Gousios outran Eagles defenders and scored off an assist from senior defender Paul Jerger for the last goal of the match with 5:02 left.

Gecan said he was proud of the team and said it's his players' time to shine.

"This far into the postseason, it has very little to do with me or my coaching," he said. "I still do things here and there, but it's really all about these guys going out there and winning these matches. I have a lot of confidence in them. They're playing off things they learned during the season and now it's all up to them."

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