Ashley Ahrens, Julie Petsche and Jessi Marchetti agreed: team is the theme.
More Top Picks Best Bbq Knife Sets
Burlington Central’s trio of seniors nearly finished each other’s thoughts Saturday in the same seamless fashion the Rockets posted a 3-0 shutout over Dixon.
In extending its winning streak to five straight, Burlington Central (14-2) avoided a letdown in the Big Northern Conference crossover vs. West Division leader Dixon (9-3-3), which lost for only the second time in 11 games.
On Thursday, the Rockets avenged an earlier one-goal loss with a 2-1 overtime victory over Johnsburg that put the two schools into a tie for first place in the Big Northern’s East Division.
“Today was another example of how important we believe communication and possession are to winning,” Ahrens said.
“While the seniors have played together for years, bonding with all the freshmen we have has been important to continued success,” Petsche said.
“We’ve worked hard on teaching them ‘The Central Way,’ and that means having good relationships on and off the field,” Marchetti said.
The Rockets’ 24-player roster features the extreme of nine seniors and 12 freshmen. Saturday’s win was a blend with seniors Ahrens and Marchetti playing well on defense and in the middle and Petsche combining with a freshmen trio on offense.
Central took the lead 17:14 into the game as Megan Majewski’s through-ball feed led to fellow freshman Sydney Pryor’s second goal. It was also her second game-winner. Just 3:44 into the second half, Petsche notched her sixth goal thanks to a combination of Majewski and Pryor.
“Megan did most of the hard work dribbling up the side past defenders and crossed the ball to Sydney, who realized I had a better angle and fed it on to me. It was an easy one-touch shot,” Petsche said.
The Rockets’ last goal came with 28:21 remaining off a scramble with freshman Jordan King opportunistically pounding a loose ball in for her team-high 26th goal.
“I’m always pleased to see us developing more and more chemistry in every third of the field,” first-year Rockets coach Jess Arneson said. “This win again highlighted how crucial it is for the seniors to help the freshmen, and for the freshmen to want the team, and especially the seniors, to be successful.
“This time of the year teamwork really becomes the most significant difference in a game.”
Abbie Ciganek, one of two rare sophomores, kept Dixon from scoring during the first half while freshman Erin Rafferty handled the second half. It marked the sixth time the goalkeeping duo shared a shutout with Rafferty having one additional shutout for the one game in which both did not play.
Nemeth is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.