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MAPLE PARK – Sycamore reached the sectional round of the postseason in a low-scoring grudge match against a team with which it already had played a low-scoring grudge match.
Its reward is another team against which the Spartans already have played a low-scoring grudge match.
After knocking off Kaneland on penalty kicks after a scoreless regulation and overtime to claim the Class 2A Kaneland Regional title, the Spartans will face Boylan in a Belvidere Sectional semifinal at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The Spartans (18-8) fell to the Titans (17-3-2) 1-0 on April 29 in Sycamore.
“We know that Boylan is a very physical team,” said Sycamore goalie Tayla Brannstrom, who stopped all three penalty kicks she faced from the Knights in the extra session. “They use their bodies whether it’s for the ball or not. We know how to compete with that because we’re used to those teams.
“So if we go in with the right mindset and focus on scoring goals, I think we can win.”
Brannstrom and the Sycamore defense have been the key to the Spartans’ success. Despite not scoring in regulation against Kaneland this year, they were 2-1 against the Knights, split the Interstate 8 title with them and beat them on their home field to win a regional title.
Brannstrom has 16 shutouts in goal this year and a 0.67 goals-against average. The Titans are just as stingy defensively. Since a 2-1 loss to Warren on April 21, they are 9-0 and have allowed one goal, in a 10-1 win against Belvidere on May 10 in the regular-season finale.
They beat Freeport 1-0 to win the Freeport Regional.
Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said the Spartans are confident after not only the close game against Boylan last month but the two games against Kaneland since. Both were in Maple Park, went to penalty kicks and resulted in Spartan wins.
“This is bonus soccer for us,” Bickley said of his third-seeded Spartans taking on a No. 1 seed. “If you had said at the beginning of the year we’d have a chance to go win a sectional semifinal against Boylan, I’d be happy with that. We’ll just give it our best effort Tuesday and hopefully we’ll find the back of the net and have a better outcome this time.”
Sophomore Cortni Kruizenga and Izzie Segreti lead the Spartans in scoring, with Kruizenga scoring 21 goals and Segreti 11.
Against Kaneland, Grace Amptmann connected in the second round for Sycamore, while Brannstrom turned away Kaneland’s Mallory Nitsche. In the third round, Faith Schroeder scored for the Spartans, then Brannstrom drove toward the left post to barely deflect Jade Schrader’s attempt.
That brought up Anya Berry for Sycamore, who connected on the deciding shot against Kaneland (13-8) the last time around. She did so again, going left to seal the win.
Brannstrom allowed the first two PKs to go in against Kaneland in the meeting earlier this month but turned away the next four as the Spartans won. She now has turned away seven PKs in a row.
“She seems to read the direction of the ball, reads the direction of where the ball’s going,” Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said. “Even if a girl goes left or right, she seems to be going the right way every time. ... I think she just goes in there with confidence. She knows going into it if she makes one or two saves and our kickers do what they should do, we should win.”
Kaneland won the first meeting between the teams 1-0. Sycamore didn’t score on the Knights outside of penalty kicks this season but beat them in two high-stakes game in the last two weeks.
Sycamore ended up picking up its first regional title since 2019, Bickley’s first at the school after being a longtime assistant at Kaneland under Scott Parillo.
“We felt confident after the first two games with them we had a shot at it,” Bickley said. “These girls talked about getting that next chance with a regional, and you could see it on the field. These girls just wouldn’t quit.”