High school girls soccer: Richmond-Burton run down by Burlington Central

BURLINGTON – In the opening minutes of Thursday's game – the biggest test of the year thus far – Richmond-Burton girls soccer coach Casey DeCaluwe implored his players to calm down, settle the play and get more comfortable on the ball. Over the course of 80 minutes, that calm never seemed to come.

Burlington Central dominated possession, and the constant pressure left R-B worn down. The visitors struggled to connect and sustain any attacking foray out of their own half.

Burlington scored twice in the first half, once right before the break, and went on to beat R-B, 5-0, in a Kishwaukee River Conference match. The win puts Burlington (8-1-1, 4-0 KRC) in first place, pulling ahead of R-B (5-2-1, 5-1).

"We always have a tough time playing here, and that's obviously not an excuse to not show up, but we didn't come out with any intensity," DeCaluwe said. "We gave up early corner kicks, and then you're stuck in your own half and you feel like you can't get out. I did see a lot of fight after giving up the first goal, it's kind of a dagger giving up a goal with 35 seconds to go in the first half."

It was another frustrating loss in Burlington for R-B after losing there last year, 8-1.

"For sure one of our biggest rivals in conference, and our last escapades with these guys have definitely been a fight just like this game," R-B goalkeeper Lindsy Restis said. "We wanted to come in confident, knowing we were going to fight, and that's just what we did."

The hosts, however, took control pretty much from the start. Burlington used every inch of its wide field to stretch out the visitors, leaving R-B constantly chasing play on the wings.

"I think we get spread out on a field that's 88 yards wide, and when they have the speed on the flanks, we are certainly not as fast as Burlington Central," DeCaluwe said. "Hats off to them; they moved the ball quickly ... and at times we were just chasing."

Burlington's Jordan King opened the scoring in the 19th minute, finishing a move that developed down the left wing. Anna McMahon doubled the lead just 35 seconds before halftime on another attack that built down R-B's flank before cutting central.

"Definitely, as soon as they scored and it was almost the end of the half, it was defeating," Restis said. "But we tried to come out in the second half and press on them, but it's definitely hard when they keep scoring on you. It is hard to get up, because you have tired legs.

"You're defending the entire game. It's really hard to push up on them because their defense has fresh legs because they're not doing anything and our defense has really tired legs."

Burlington's Kyrsten Callie Pellikan made it 3-0 nine minutes into the second half before Zoey Kollhoff scored and McMahon got her second to round out the five-goal night.

Restis finished with 17 saves, many of which helped R-B hang around, while the visitors' offense didn't force a single save from Burlington keeper Erin Rafferty.

Unsung hero

Lindsy Restis

Richmond-Burton, jr., GK

Despite conceding the five goals (most of which she didn't have a chance to save), Restis had to do plenty of work just to keep the Rockets in the match, making 17 saves.

The number

0: Shots on goal for Richmond-Burton.

And another thing ...

The Rockets have to regroup quickly, as they will have to play two more games within about 16 hours of this one finishing. With no school Friday, they play at 9 a.m. and 10:30 in the tournament they are hosting.