Burlington Central tops Hampshire again

Burlington Central has had Hampshire's number in boys soccer. After a 2-1 Big Northern East victory in Hampshire on Monday, the Rockets have now handed the Whip-Purs 2 of their 3 defeats on the season, and have won 9 of 10 overall.

Monday the Rockets got first-half goals from Kyle Reopelle and Jordan Werrbach then held on.

It was a mirror image of their earlier game in Burlington, when the Whips scored in the first half and the Rockets scored twice after intermission.

"It's a big rivalry," said Rockets coach Mike Gecan. "We've said this for a long time. Our boys come to play every time. We respect them, but at the same time we're looking for a great game. We're going to give everything we've got every time, and I think we did that today."

Reopelle put the Rockets (7-4-2, 2-1-1) ahead early, scoring on a header off Mike McCurdy's assist.

"We came out and got a nice goal early," said Gecan. "It helps when you can get that little cushion."

The teams played even for most of the first half, but the Rockets got a critical insurance goal with 2 minutes left. Ryan Warner pushed the ball to the baseline, then fired a cross out to Werrbach, who flicked it in past Hampshire goalkeeper Cameron Rath.

Hampshire (9-3-2, 2-2-1) got one back midway through the second half on a nice goal from Junior Makinde, the leading scorer in the area.

"I don't think either team had a lot of good quality scoring chances," said Hampshire coach Patrick O'Brien. "I think we gave up a couple of soft ones, but pretty much they were controlling the middle. They tend to do that whenever we play them."

Kyle DeRaedt was in the net for Burlington.

Hampshire's defense, led by sweeper Michael Anderson and stopper Ryan Ponomar, kept the Rockets off the board in the second half.