Burlington Central storms back, beats Sycamore on PKs in regional semifinal

SYCAMORE – Freshman Niko Guzman’s name wasn’t listed along with the rest of his Burlington Central teammates in the Class 2A Sycamore Regional program.

So what.

By the time his penalty kick settled in the back of the net, he was far too busy being mobbed by his teammates to care as fifth-seeded Burlington Central won the shootout 5-4 against fourth-seeded Sycamore to win Wednesday’s regional semifinal.

The teams had been tied 1-1 after overtime ended.

Burlington Central (7-9-3) advances to Saturday’s regional final against Rockford Boylan (17-2-1) at 10 a.m.

“I’m not listed in there?” Guzman asked. “I’ve been playing with the varsity for the year. I wasn’t there when we played [Sycamore on Sept. 3 during a 3-2 loss]. Since I was younger I’ve always taken the last penalty. Either I’m last to go or first. It is really nothing new. I just stuck to a spot and it went in, and that’s all that really matters.”

The Rockets were 0-7-2 in their previous nine games. They went 36 days without a win, having defeated Cary-Grove 3-1 on Sept. 17.

They were due, and Noah Rosborough got them started during the shootout.

“We just had to find a good way to break the streak,” Rosborough said. “It was not us playing poorly, just not finishing. Our record does not show how good we are, and we are going to make some noise in the playoffs.”

Sycamore (16-7-1) had won six straight games coming in and claimed the Interstate 8 Conference title.

The Spartans led 1-0 after one half, getting a penalty kick goal from Aiden Sears in the 11th minute. His attempt caught the bottom side of the crossbar but still found its way home.

The Rockets kept pressing throughout the half but didn’t have anything to show for it. They came awfully close to netting the equalizer with 9:18 left when an Avery Pawlisch shot found the crossbar, but too much of it, as it caromed away harmlessly.

“Most games we’re down one or two [goals] and we try to stay in it,” Guzman said. “We were in this for a lot of the time. We could’ve won in regular time, [but] we just had some chances that didn’t go in, and we just had to stick to it and keep playing.”

Pawlisch’s long ball early in the second half helped to finally get the Rockets even. Sam Knych was able to control possession of that lengthy pass and after a couple of defenders pursued him, he slid a pass across the box where Haden Raders waiting.

“We just basically switched the field there,” Raders said. “I just tapped it in there after Sam slid it.”

The Rockets refused to quit.

“It’s been an up-and-down season, and we’ve been fighting,” Raders said. “A number of times we would be done with a game where we’d dominate possession and just couldn’t finish. We just clicked together. We still need to do better on finishing, but overall we played as a team.”

Sears, Shaun Roberts and Gavin Crouch converted their shootout attempts for the Spartans, while Rosborough, Knych and Raders matched them for the Rockets.

Burlington Central goalkeeper Charles Wyzukovicz then made the lone save of the shootout, and Pawlisch followed by burying his attempt in the right corner to give the Rockets a 4-3 edge.

“I’ve been in a lot of penalty shootouts in my life,” Wyzukovicz said. “I had one against Sycamore last year in a tournament final and we won the tournament and I had a save in it. I’ve had a lot of them before in high school, and I think once or twice on the losing side, but I always find a way to make a save and help my team.”

The cruelty of high school soccer in the state series is that someone’s season has to end. Making it sting even more if you can leave it all out on the field for 100 minutes before reaching a conclusion via a shootout as the sun goes down.

“All but one coach has to deal with it at the end of the year,” Spartans coach Kevin Bickley said. “It’s tough. You play 100 minutes. I’d like to see them go away from the two [10-minute overtimes]. I fee like every time we’ve been a part of that everyone is so tired that it ends up going to kicks anyways. But it is what it is. Both teams have to do it either way, and we gave everything we had.”

Sycamore won the Interstate 8 Conference (9-1), while Burlington Central (1-7-1) took ninth place in the Fox Valley Conference.

“It’s a four-five [seed] game, and that’s exactly what you’d expect out of a four-five,” Bickley said. “I feel like whoever did the seeding or the voting got it right. Unfortunately to play 100 minutes and lose the way we did on our home field is tough. It’s tough to put that on a kid at the end of the game.”

The Spartans lost by more than one goal only once this year (2-0 against Belvedere North on Aug. 31).

“Like I just told my boys,” Bickley said. “They competed every game.”