Marengo wins dramatic soccer regional opener

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MARENGO – As time wound down in Saturday’s regional opener against Burlington Central, Marengo girls soccer coach Brandon Holton was starting to lose hope with his team trailing by a goal.

“Already in my head I had my speech planned for afterward,” Holton said. “ ‘We dominated the game. Luck just wasn’t on our side for the day.’ ”

That’s when the Indians got the break they were looking for in a dramatic, 2-1 victory against the Rockets in the IHSA Class 2A Burlington Central Regional.

Burlington’s goalkeeper was whistled for holding onto the ball too long, giving Marengo an indirect free kick just outside the Rockets’ goal box. With about 20 seconds remaining in regulation, Jenna Overlee drove the ball toward the goal as her teammates crashed the net, hoping for a deflection.

But it turned out the deflection came from Burlington’s goalkeeper, who got a hand on the ball but allowed it to go into the goal, tying the score, 1-1.

After two mandatory 10-minute overtimes, Marengo defender Ruth Kimball scored the winner in equally improbable fashion. With a strong wind at her back, Kimball score on a shot from just inside midfield as time was running out in the first of what would have been two 5-minute golden goal overtimes to give fourth-seeded Marengo a victory against fifth-seeded Burlington.

The win sends the Indians into Tuesday’s first regional semifinal against top-seeded Crystal Lake Central at 5 p.m. in Burlington.

Jenna Kunz made five saves for Marengo (9-8-1).

SOFTBALL

Wooodstock 6, Cary-Grove 0: At Cary, Taylor Schulty (7-5) struck out 11 and limited the Trojans to four hits to earn the win for the Blue Streaks in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win. Nikki Greenhill went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Abby Haubold had a double for Woodstock (11-17, 7-5).

Emma Gaulke went 2-for-3 with a double to lead C-G (13-15, 6-6). Lindsey Marshall struck out seven in taking the loss.

Prairie Ridge 2-1, Gurnee Warren 1-3: At Gurnee, Anna Patras hit a home run and drove in a run, and Lauren Seegers had two RBIs for Prairie Ridge (25-6) in the first game of a non-conference doubleheader split. Johanna Turner (23-4) struck out eight and earned the win in Game 1.

Harlem Invitational: At Machesney Park, Jacobs won its pool with a record of 3-0. The Golden Eagles defeated East Moline United, 7-4, Harlem, 4-3, and Dundee-Crown, 3-0. Jacobs (17-11) was led by Kelsey Peterson, who had four hits, including a triple, for the three games.

Besides losing to Jacobs, D-C (4-20) also lost to East Moline, 12-0, and Harlem, 8-3. Leading the way for the Chargers was Melissa Summaria, who had three hits, including a double, in the three games.

• Tom Clegg and Mike Kolton contributed to this report.