Tough test awaits Burlington Central

Updated: May 18, 2011 8:10PM

In addition to avenging a loss from a week before, the Big Northern Conference East Division champion Burlington Central Rockets rewarded girls soccer coach Mike Gecan with his milestone 75th career victory with the girls program.

That came as the Rockets defeated host Hampshire 2-1 in overtime Tuesday in a regional semifinal.

Central has a major hurdle ahead with Saturday’s 11 a.m. regional title match against Marian Central, “Without question, one of the top five teams in the state for 2A,” according to Gecan.

Cogs know their turf

While Genoa-Kingston’s girls soccer squad fell short in its hopes to claim a title, the athletic administration for the Cogs can be justifiably proud of their field.

Minutes before Tuesday’s regional final against St. Edward, groundskeeper Bob Davidson was giving the field one last mow, showing the same dedication and pride that earned Genoa-Kingston’s football field the Illinois Turf of the Year award this past fall.

A nice touch on both the football and soccer fields is the orange and blue “Cogs” logo painted in place by the school’s industrial arts students.

Throw-ins

Huntley and St. Charles North remain The Courier-News area’s two teams within the Sun-Times Top 10 poll with the Red Raiders (18-1-1) having moved up to a season-high third-place standing.

While the North Stars (12-3-1) dipped to their lowest position of seventh, coach Ruth Vostal’s club has been in the ratings for all weeks (including a high of second on April 18).

Jockeying for position

While Huntley continues to boast the individual leaders for each category in The Courier-News’ area state lists, some new names have quietly crept up.

While Red Raider Aimee Wronski has locked up the point production title with an untouchable 71 points to date, Burlington Central’s Maddie Stoneman has moved into second with 38, followed in the top five by Bartlett’s Nicole Gobbo (37), Genoa-Kingston’s Julia Mendoza (35) and St. Charles North’s Sammy Gage (33).

While Wronski’s area-best 32 goals (neatly split into 16 for each half) remains ahead of South Elgin’s Savanah Uveges (19), Bartlett’s Gobbo has moved into third with 17 strikes while Hampshire’s Alex Zeller and Burlington Central’s Stoneman share fourth with 15 goals.

Huntley’s Bre Burry has 13 assists but that tally has been matched by Burlington Central’s Camille Dela Cruz with Hampshire’s Natalie Starrenburg third with 12 setups. Tied for fourth are St. Charles North corner kicker specialist Amy Gage and the Rockets’ Heather Krup with nine apiece.

Red Raider netminder Kaytlyn Owens boasts 13.5 shutouts based on 11 solo whitewashes and five shared shutouts. Jacobs’ Monica Orjuela finished with 7.5 while Bartlett’s Natalia Grodzki has 7.0 and Burlington Central’s Caitlin Solberg still hopes to improve on her 7.0 shutouts.

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