Hurricanes reach 1st sectional final

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BURLINGTON – Neither a stiff first-half headwind nor the pressure of history stood in the way of Marian Central’s offense.

Five Marian girls soccer players scored off an efficient attack as the Hurricanes routed Belvidere North, 5-0, on Tuesday in the IHSA Class 2A Burlington Central Sectional. The semifinal win sends the ’Canes to Friday’s 7 p.m. title match against Freeport. It will be Marian’s first appearance in a sectional title game.

“As far as I know, according to school records, Marian girls soccer has never progressed beyond [sectional semifinals],” Marian coach Kristian Rockall said. “The girls are happy they’ve made history there.”

After 10 minutes of back-and-forth play the nerves wore off and Marian (17-9) began attacking Blue Thunder goalkeeper Adrienne Giglio with targeted shots on goal.

In the 15th minute, senior forward Laura LeFevour brought the ball from midfield to the top of the box and punched it forward to Harmony Kendzora for the first goal. LeFevour assisted on four goals, including a cross in front of the goal in the 29th minute to Robin Wenzel to make it 2-0.

Amy Rechenberg, Katie Przybysz and Susan Thomas finished Marian’s scoring.

“At first there were a lot of jitters,” Thomas said. “The rest of the game we just got focused. We were on today.”

With storms approaching, the game was called in the 61st minute.

“We just converted today,” Rockall said. “Our shot to goal ratio at the half was one in three, where as against Burlington last week it was like 1 in 15. That was really what we focused on in practice yesterday. Nothing but finishing shooting. We felt like we were firing on all cylinders today.”