Hurricanes capture first sectional title

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BURLINGTON – Marian Central’s girls soccer team has had countless heroes throughout this year’s magical run.

Two more Hurricanes rose to the occasion in the biggest victory in the program’s history Friday night. 

Rebecca Turski and Pierce Bailey scored unlikely second-half goals to help Marian knock off Freeport, 3-0, in the IHSA Class 2A Burlington Central Sectional championship game.

The Hurricanes (18-9), who captured the first girls soccer sectional crown in school history, take on Lakes in the Barrington Supersectional at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

“It feels really good because we’re the first girls team from Marian to win a sectional,” Bailey said. “So it’s really cool to have that – especially right around graduation. It just adds to the energy.”

Despite a relentless attack from talented forwards Laura LeFevour, Robin Wenzel and Harmony Kendzora, the Hurricanes just couldn’t break through against a Freeport (14-5-2) defense that at times packed as many as eight players into the box.  

Finally, Turski managed to punch home the go-ahead goal after a nice touch pass from Wenzel eight minutes into the second half. Turski, a sophomore defender, had made a long, impressive dash all the way from the team’s defensive backfield.

“She got there. She was brave. And she got the goal,” Rockall said. “That kind of sums up who we are. She was willing to make a 40-yard run just for the chance to score that goal.”

Bailey added a key insurance tally with less than 24 minutes to play when she knocked a bobbled ball out of the hands of Freeport keeper Rebecca Ursin and into the net.

“It was just bouncing around in the box,” said Bailey, a versatile senior forward. “I put all my energy into going forward and tried to just shove it in.”

LeFevour, the team’s leading scorer, put the exclamation point on the win by hooking a shot past Ursin with 6:52 remaining.

“Freeport did a fantastic job,” Rockall said. “They made it extremely difficult for us to get any kind of chances. We just managed to break them down in the end.”

Behind defensive standouts Tess Bottorff and Megan Graf, the Hurricanes posted their third shutout in four playoff games. Marian keeper Kaitlyn Logan needed just three effortless saves to earn the win in net.

The Hurricanes have out-scored their opponents 17-1 in the postseason.

“Tess and Megan did just an unbelievable job defensively tonight,” Rockall said. “They need a lot of credit. They’re not the heroes who score the goals, but they’re definitely heroes on this team.”