Trojans roll with it

Cary-Grove forward Taylor Mahoney heads a throw-in ball midway through the first half Tuesday against Boylan in the IHSA Class 3A Boylan Sectional in Rockford. The Trojans won, 3-2, and will meet either Barrington or Huntley at 11 a.m. Saturday in the championship game. (Randy Stukenberg - For the Northwest Herald)

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ROCKFORD – As Beth Hughes chased down the slow-rolling soccer ball bound for the right corner of Cary-Grove’s net Tuesday, she worried about inadvertently knocking the ball in herself.

The IHSA Class 3A Boylan Sectional semifinal between the Trojans and host Titans was tied at 2 with 10:38 remaining, and as Titans forward Alex Fahlbeck’s shot rolled along, Hughes thought about how all that her team had worked to accomplish could disappear if the ball trickled into the goal.

Hughes wasn’t quite sure how she did it, but she dived in front of the shot just before it crossed the goal line, sliding into the right corner while the ball dribbled away and out of harm’s way. The Trojans used the momentum to go the length of the field and score the go-ahead goal 20 seconds later and hung on for a 3-2 victory.

C-G will play in the sectional title match at 11 a.m. Saturday against either Barrington or Huntley.

The Fillies and the Red Raiders will play at 6 p.m. today because their game Tuesday night was postponed because of inclement weather. C-G and Boylan waited nearly two hours to start their match because of thunderstorms.

“I had no idea whether I’d get there in time, but I wanted at least to try,” said Hughes, a defender who stepped in when goalkeeper Paige Lincicum came out of the net to defend the play. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop it, either, and then I started to worry whether I would kick it in myself.

“We just worked so hard this season that I didn’t want to see it all go away.”

C-G (15-7) is in position now to win the program’s first sectional title in 12 years.

“It means so much to us,” said sophomore Korey Kronforst, who scored twice including the game-winner. “We haven’t done anything like this in a long time, and we’re so excited.”

C-G trailed Boylan, 1-0, with 2:26 left in the first half when junior midfielder Allie Simon tied the score at 1 with a shot off a pass from Kronforst.

Nineteen seconds later, Kronforst found the back of the net to give C-G a 2-1 advantage at halftime.

“It’s our energy and our effort that makes things happen,” C-G coach Ray Krystal said.

Boylan (19-3) tied the score at 2 with 33:20 to play in the second half, but Kronforst’s breakaway goal after Hughes’ momentum-shifting shot stood up for the final margin.

“Whenever there’s a big play, our intensity level gets so high,” Kronforst said. “We play off of that.”