Girls soccer: Burlington Central falls to Peoria Notre Dame, takes 4th at IHSA Class 2A state tournament

Burlington Central lost five of its first six matches and didn’t find its groove until the second half of the season.

Once the wins started, they didn’t stop.

“I think we were a little bit of the underdogs,” said senior midfielder Eva Samuelian, who ended her last season with 11 goals and eight assists. “I don’t think anyone expected us to go as far as we did, and that was kind of a driving factor.

“Nobody expected anything, we didn’t have anything to lose. We can do this for us and make ourselves proud.”

Led by dynamic sophomore midfielder Mekenzie Rogers, a first-year high school player, Central earned a No. 1 seed for the postseason and made it all the way to the final day of the season.

Central’s surprise year came to an end Saturday with a 3-1 loss to top-seeded Peoria Notre Dame in the third-place game of the Class 2A state tournament at North Central College. The Rockets were making their second state appearance after taking third in 2017.

Although their playoff run ended with back-to-back losses, including a 2-0 loss to Fox Valley Conference rival Crystal Lake Central in Friday’s semifinals, the Rockets (15-10-2) were proud of the season and time together they had.

“We had a big losing streak in the first half of the season but we definitely grew, got better and developed,” Rogers said. “I’m just really proud of us. We had to build a connection and fight as much as possible, work together as a team and not give up.”

Central fell behind Notre Dame (25-2-1) with 16:25 remaining in the first half. Irish sophomore forward Ava Lafollette fired a shot just outside the penalty area that deflected off a Rockets defender and out of the reach of sophomore goalkeeper Kenzie Lorkowski.

Rogers put four shots on goal in the first half, but she was unable to find the back of the net. She made a long run and had a wide-open shot on goal from 15 yards out as the Rockets looked to tie the score, but slipped as she connected with the ball and hit it right at goalkeeper Sydnee Wharton.

Notre Dame scored its second goal two minutes later. A wide-open Maddie Stickelmaier took a cross from Myra Wardle and shot the ball into the lower right corner of the net to take a 2-0 lead with 9:42 to go in the first half.

With a heavy rain falling, Rogers and the Rockets finally broke through late in the second half as she scored on a left-footed shot from about 20 yards out, lifting the ball into the upper left corner of the net with 11:37 remaining. Rogers finished with seven shots on goal and nine shots overall.

But the Irish answered right away as Lafollette snuck behind the Central defense, stepped around Lorkowski and scored to go up 3-1 with 10:22 left.

Lorkowski made eight saves for Central, while Wharton had eight for Notre Dame. The Rockets had 10 shots on goal to eight for the Irish.

Notre Dame coach Ben Ralph said his team always had eyes on Rogers.

“We talked to our midfield, we couldn’t lose her,” Ralph said. “I thought we did a good job for most of the game. We lost her the one time, and she burned us. It was just not allowing her to get the ball in open space and make somebody else beat us.”

Rogers finished her first high school season with 39 goals and 10 assists. Central coach Jessica Arneson believes her 39 goals is a team record.

Rogers’ teammates were excited when they learned she was joining the team after only playing club as a freshman.

“We would watch her highlights and we were excited for her to come in,” Samuelian said. “She’s crazy talented and has so much potential. She’s going to go so far. I think it was great to have her in the midfield to play off of. The plays she makes, the creativity she has, I think it really helped everybody.”

The Rockers lose five seniors — Samuelian, Ellie Elders, Rylee Butler, Emersyn Fry and Brianna Domaleczny — but will bring back a hungry team that included 15 sophomores and two freshmen.

“It’s really good to have the experience, especially for a younger team to see what it looks like,” Arneson said. “We were excited to be here. We wish it would have gone a little differently, but we’ll be coming back I have a feeling.”

Lorkowski couldn’t have asked for a better season.

“This team is something I’ll remember forever,” she said. “How far we’ve gotten, everything we’ve celebrated, I just think it was the perfect season.”