Bizarre end helps Burlington C. top Lemont
Rockets win 3-1, Indians finish game with 8 players
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NAPERVILLE -- A consolation game is never easy to get an accurate read on. Emotion tends to override reason, and players already emotionally drained must find a way to recuperate and play through the pain and disappointment of falling short of their state championship quest.
Burlington Central lost 1-0 to eventual state champion Triad. Lemont came off an epic 24-shooter penalty kick loss against Wheaton Academy on Friday.
What transpired in the Class AA third place game was almost impossible to fully process. One team dominated the game but trailed with three fourths of the time gone. Another team played on pure emotion to blot out the day before.
In a moment everything changed.
The wild and surreal fused together as a series of unusual events took hold and left Lemont down three players, and Burlington Central pulled out a peculiar 3-1 comeback victory Saturday at North Central College.
“We defend really well with 11,” Pranger said. “It is tough to defend with seven or eight.”
In less than 15 minutes, Lemont had three players sent off the field.
“With 20 minutes left, I thought we could ride it out and win the third place game, and it turned on a dime,” Pranger said.
“I will leave it at that.”
In the 58th minute Danielle Irwin and Jacqueline Aleman received yellow cards before after a foul call and before a 25-yard FK from Burlington Central that did not connect.
In the 63rd minute, junior Burlington Central midfielder Anna McMahon cut through the Lemont interior in pursuit of a through-ball from teammate and junior midfielder Sydney Pryor. Lemont junior keeper Michelle Jerantowski arrived first and collected the ball.
McMahon’s momentum carried her toward Jerantowski, the two met and a collision ensued. From that moment on, it was a “Rashomon,” named for the great Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa in which multiple perspectives of the same event yield highly different responses.
McMahon hit the deck hard, her head snapping violently back. Pranger saw it as a hard, though legal play with Jerantowski asserting her right to self-preservation.
The scene was viewed differently by center official Bret Richter. He issued a red card against Jerantowski. More damaging to the Indians from the ruling of a foul committed in the box was the penalty kick awarded to Burlington Central.
Junior midfielder Jordan King drilled the penalty kick inside the left corner for the Rockets’ first lead.
“You just have to know where you are going and stay with it,” King said of her penalty kick conversion. “You cannot spend time contemplating the whole thing. You have to think, I am going here, and I am not changing my mind. Just know where you are going.”
The controversial penalty kick pushed Lemont (20-3-4) out of sync.
“On that play, the keeper has a right to protect herself,” Pranger said. “She did not want to be down like this (crunched over in a vulnerable position) when the girl was coming into her. Her arms were across her body. I think it is a really harsh call.
“In a matter of two seconds the game goes.”
Burlington Central (25-3-2) dictated tempo, pace and rhythm in the first half. Jerantowski is the younger sister of Northwestern star Kim Jerantowski. Michelle played with terrific poise and skill in recording seven saves that thwarted the Rockets’ possession advantage.
“After what we did yesterday, it was very hard to come back the next day and play,” Pranger said. “I thought we were really sluggish at the start of the game, but the goal we got came out of the run of play.”
In the 33rd minute, freshman forward Grace Panegasser directed a terrific throw-in that sophomore midfielder Michaela Egan was able to control off a deflection inside the box.
“One of the defenders played it into the box and another girl and me were going after it,” Egan said. “It was going off of people, and I just tried my best.”
Egan smashed a low-lining laser from about 14 yards out inside the near post for the Indians’ only goal of the two-day finals.
“It was 1-nil and I thought we could defend well,” Pranger said. “We have been a good defensive team the whole year.”
Burlington Central arrived at Naperville boasting a high-powered attack that was still waiting to take off. Lemont closed off lanes and space in the backfield and made it difficult for the Rockets to string together the final threads of the scoring sequence.
Lemont was playing hard and aggressive and looking to shut down open spaces. The first sign of the changing fortunes came in the 58th minute with the first disqualification when Lemont freshman midfielder Danielle Irwin was issued a “soft red,” for acquiring her second yellow card.
The Rockets took advantage moments later. King sent a through-ball that junior forward Elizabeth Gousios split two defenders and directed just enough of the shot to bypass Jerantowski as she bolted out of the box.
The Gousios’ goal proved the first sign of the Rockets’ awakening.
“Once they scored that first goal, our mentality was to at least tie it up and try and go into overtime,” she said. “We have come back from games like this the whole year, like against Sycamore, one of our biggest rivals (in the sectional final).”
Burlington Central felt liberated and newly secure and focused on the task at hand.
“We finally broke down the door, and the dogs were just let loose,” King said. “It was a really good feeling to have somebody score (for) our team.”
Gousios earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match distinction for unleashing the Rockets’ attack.
To some extent the team's were mirror images of each other marked by youth and passion. Both sides have just two seniors, meaning their appearance here was not meant as momentary or a one-off phenomenon. This year marked the fifth successive time, in odd-numbered years, that Lemont has claimed a state trophy.
“The kids got frustrated,” Pranger said.
Aleman received a red card in the 73rd minute. Moments earlier, Burlington Central freshman midfielder Zoey Kolhoff put the finishing touches of an unorthodox conclusion with a long carry down the center of the pitch before scoring on a ball from about 25 yards out.
Amid the peculiar and unorthodox ending, the game marked a homecoming for Burlington Central’s young coach, Jessica Arneson, a 2009 Naperville Central graduate who played soccer for Ed Watson and basketball for her father, Andy Nussbaum, a legendary three-sport coach at Naperville Central.
“This is very familiar for me,” she said. “I have so many great memories here, and this just throws one more on the pile. The kids played so well.”
The Rockets had never advanced beyond the round of the sectional semifinals. The season has been a circular one for the Rockets. They played at Naperville Central in their first game of the season and closed out a historic year less than a mile away.
“Mental toughness is something I have been trying to instill in them the whole year,” she said. “Being able to push yourself, staying strong, being a good teammate and being at your best even when the other team is trying to dictate the style of play.
“We did that today.”
Starting lineups
Burlington Central
GK: Abbi Ciganek
D: Jessica Clouser
D: Taylor Abbott
D: Kirsten Wyse
D: Alyssa Mariani
MF: Anna McMahon
MF: Kyrsten Pellikan
MF: Sydney Pryor
MF: Jordan King
F: Elizabeth Gousios
F: Megan Majewski
Lemont
GK: Michelle Jerantowski
D: Katrina Retzke
D: Leti Salazar
D: Sarah Knoepfle
MF: Danielle Irwin
MF: Jacqueline Aleman
MF: Carli Bermele
MF: Michaela Egan
F: Isabel Silvar
F: Adriano Patino
F: Mairead Ruane
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Elizabeth Gousios, so., F, Burlington Central
Officials: Bret Richter; Mike Wilson; Jay Cummins; 4th Scott Lichtfuss
Rockets win 3-1, Indians finish game with 8 players
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NAPERVILLE -- A consolation game is never easy to get an accurate read on. Emotion tends to override reason, and players already emotionally drained must find a way to recuperate and play through the pain and disappointment of falling short of their state championship quest.
Burlington Central lost 1-0 to eventual state champion Triad. Lemont came off an epic 24-shooter penalty kick loss against Wheaton Academy on Friday.
What transpired in the Class AA third place game was almost impossible to fully process. One team dominated the game but trailed with three fourths of the time gone. Another team played on pure emotion to blot out the day before.
In a moment everything changed.
The wild and surreal fused together as a series of unusual events took hold and left Lemont down three players, and Burlington Central pulled out a peculiar 3-1 comeback victory Saturday at North Central College.
“We defend really well with 11,” Pranger said. “It is tough to defend with seven or eight.”
In less than 15 minutes, Lemont had three players sent off the field.
“With 20 minutes left, I thought we could ride it out and win the third place game, and it turned on a dime,” Pranger said.
“I will leave it at that.”
In the 58th minute Danielle Irwin and Jacqueline Aleman received yellow cards before after a foul call and before a 25-yard FK from Burlington Central that did not connect.
In the 63rd minute, junior Burlington Central midfielder Anna McMahon cut through the Lemont interior in pursuit of a through-ball from teammate and junior midfielder Sydney Pryor. Lemont junior keeper Michelle Jerantowski arrived first and collected the ball.
McMahon’s momentum carried her toward Jerantowski, the two met and a collision ensued. From that moment on, it was a “Rashomon,” named for the great Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa in which multiple perspectives of the same event yield highly different responses.
McMahon hit the deck hard, her head snapping violently back. Pranger saw it as a hard, though legal play with Jerantowski asserting her right to self-preservation.
The scene was viewed differently by center official Bret Richter. He issued a red card against Jerantowski. More damaging to the Indians from the ruling of a foul committed in the box was the penalty kick awarded to Burlington Central.
Junior midfielder Jordan King drilled the penalty kick inside the left corner for the Rockets’ first lead.
“You just have to know where you are going and stay with it,” King said of her penalty kick conversion. “You cannot spend time contemplating the whole thing. You have to think, I am going here, and I am not changing my mind. Just know where you are going.”
The controversial penalty kick pushed Lemont (20-3-4) out of sync.
“On that play, the keeper has a right to protect herself,” Pranger said. “She did not want to be down like this (crunched over in a vulnerable position) when the girl was coming into her. Her arms were across her body. I think it is a really harsh call.
“In a matter of two seconds the game goes.”
Burlington Central (25-3-2) dictated tempo, pace and rhythm in the first half. Jerantowski is the younger sister of Northwestern star Kim Jerantowski. Michelle played with terrific poise and skill in recording seven saves that thwarted the Rockets’ possession advantage.
“After what we did yesterday, it was very hard to come back the next day and play,” Pranger said. “I thought we were really sluggish at the start of the game, but the goal we got came out of the run of play.”
In the 33rd minute, freshman forward Grace Panegasser directed a terrific throw-in that sophomore midfielder Michaela Egan was able to control off a deflection inside the box.
“One of the defenders played it into the box and another girl and me were going after it,” Egan said. “It was going off of people, and I just tried my best.”
Egan smashed a low-lining laser from about 14 yards out inside the near post for the Indians’ only goal of the two-day finals.
“It was 1-nil and I thought we could defend well,” Pranger said. “We have been a good defensive team the whole year.”
Burlington Central arrived at Naperville boasting a high-powered attack that was still waiting to take off. Lemont closed off lanes and space in the backfield and made it difficult for the Rockets to string together the final threads of the scoring sequence.
Lemont was playing hard and aggressive and looking to shut down open spaces. The first sign of the changing fortunes came in the 58th minute with the first disqualification when Lemont freshman midfielder Danielle Irwin was issued a “soft red,” for acquiring her second yellow card.
The Rockets took advantage moments later. King sent a through-ball that junior forward Elizabeth Gousios split two defenders and directed just enough of the shot to bypass Jerantowski as she bolted out of the box.
The Gousios’ goal proved the first sign of the Rockets’ awakening.
“Once they scored that first goal, our mentality was to at least tie it up and try and go into overtime,” she said. “We have come back from games like this the whole year, like against Sycamore, one of our biggest rivals (in the sectional final).”
Burlington Central felt liberated and newly secure and focused on the task at hand.
“We finally broke down the door, and the dogs were just let loose,” King said. “It was a really good feeling to have somebody score (for) our team.”
Gousios earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match distinction for unleashing the Rockets’ attack.
To some extent the team's were mirror images of each other marked by youth and passion. Both sides have just two seniors, meaning their appearance here was not meant as momentary or a one-off phenomenon. This year marked the fifth successive time, in odd-numbered years, that Lemont has claimed a state trophy.
“The kids got frustrated,” Pranger said.
Aleman received a red card in the 73rd minute. Moments earlier, Burlington Central freshman midfielder Zoey Kolhoff put the finishing touches of an unorthodox conclusion with a long carry down the center of the pitch before scoring on a ball from about 25 yards out.
Amid the peculiar and unorthodox ending, the game marked a homecoming for Burlington Central’s young coach, Jessica Arneson, a 2009 Naperville Central graduate who played soccer for Ed Watson and basketball for her father, Andy Nussbaum, a legendary three-sport coach at Naperville Central.
“This is very familiar for me,” she said. “I have so many great memories here, and this just throws one more on the pile. The kids played so well.”
The Rockets had never advanced beyond the round of the sectional semifinals. The season has been a circular one for the Rockets. They played at Naperville Central in their first game of the season and closed out a historic year less than a mile away.
“Mental toughness is something I have been trying to instill in them the whole year,” she said. “Being able to push yourself, staying strong, being a good teammate and being at your best even when the other team is trying to dictate the style of play.
“We did that today.”
Starting lineups
Burlington Central
GK: Abbi Ciganek
D: Jessica Clouser
D: Taylor Abbott
D: Kirsten Wyse
D: Alyssa Mariani
MF: Anna McMahon
MF: Kyrsten Pellikan
MF: Sydney Pryor
MF: Jordan King
F: Elizabeth Gousios
F: Megan Majewski
Lemont
GK: Michelle Jerantowski
D: Katrina Retzke
D: Leti Salazar
D: Sarah Knoepfle
MF: Danielle Irwin
MF: Jacqueline Aleman
MF: Carli Bermele
MF: Michaela Egan
F: Isabel Silvar
F: Adriano Patino
F: Mairead Ruane
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Elizabeth Gousios, so., F, Burlington Central
Officials: Bret Richter; Mike Wilson; Jay Cummins; 4th Scott Lichtfuss