CL Central’s season ends

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BELVIDERE – Sycamore’s girls soccer team knew Crystal Lake Central would put plenty of pressure on the Spartans’ defenders with wave after wave of players.

Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to stop. And, for 65 minutes, the high pressure up front worked for the Tigers.

But Sycamore managed to crack Crystal Lake Central’s defense, and a Karissa Miller goal with just less than 15 minutes left gave the Spartans a 1-0 win in the IHSA Class 2A Belvidere Sectional semifinals Wednesday at Belvidere.

“The ground being wet made it more difficult to find feet from the midfielders to our forwards,” Central sophomore midfielder Nelle Youel said. “They had a few really good players and one goal that we just couldn’t stop.”

Sycamore (24-1) coach Dave Lichamer said the Tigers’ style of play forced an adjustment that took longer than he hoped.

“They’re a real full-court press style offense,” Lichamer said. “They take everyone and will just bull rush all the way up the field. They will push through with their bodies. It took the whole first half to adjust to the quickness they were pushing through.”

Led by Maddie Edwards and Sam Johnson up front, the Tigers (12-7-1) kept the ball in Sycamore’s zone and managed to turn a possession team into a dump-and-chase team.

That strategy began to work for the Spartans. Miller and forward Nici Newquist got loose for one-on-one opportunities and, with 18 minutes left, Miller hit the crossbar on a shot just inside the 18-yard box.

Four minutes later, she made sure to keep her shot low, after taking a pass from Newquist and followed it with a shot to the back corner of the net, just past the arms of Tigers goalkeeper Jenae Taylor.

Sycamore advanced to Friday’s sectional championship against Freeport, while the Tigers’ season ended in a way no player expected.

“We weren’t as focused on winning the regional because our goals were higher than that,” said Youel, whose Tigers won the soccer program’s first regional title last week. “After the game, everyone was down, but we can’t be down about it. We have to be happy that at least we were able to do something we hadn’t done before.”