CARY – Burlington Central coach Dean Ames took an unorthodox approach to halftime at Tuesday’s Fox Valley Conference game at Cary-Grove.

 Most soccer coaches spend the majority of the 10-minute halftime session talking to their team. Some pay little attention to the end of intermission and extend the halftime talk for several more minutes.

Not Ames.

With the Rockets trailing 1-0, the coached gathered his team together for a brief chat before dismissing the group and letting them hit the field with just under four minutes left in the break. Ames then realized he had some extra time, and prompted his players to dart back to talk for another 90 seconds.

The shorter, two-part halftime speech worked to perfection.

The Rockets scored three goals in the first 13-plus minutes of the second half to cruise to a 3-1 victory over Cary-Grove at Pond Field.

Before the halftime talks, the Rockets missed four chances to finish before finally putting everything together in the final 40 minutes.

The Rockets (6-2-1, 1-1-0 Fox Valley Conference) shocked the home team with three-different goal-scorers. Burlington Central just missed a fourth goal, when reserve Nathan Sandoval hit a slow roller off the far post with 16 seconds left in the game.

Noah Rosborough, Samuel Knych and Maximus Salas each scored a goal for the Rockets in the comeback road victory.

“I just told them at halftime this is not the Central of old, nothing against what has been happening recently, but there was a bit of a lack of fire,” Ames said. “Even last year, when my son Charlie played here, there was a lack of fire whether it was coming from the players themselves. 

“We just had a little motivation after halftime. We’re more of a possession team, and I thought we really possessed in the second half.

“If we play our game like that, we can give teams some trouble. When we play like we did in the first half, we can wear teams down in the second half. I don’t really think we wore them down today, but we are playing better. 

“I’m looking forward what we can do in the second half of the season, especially playing Belvidere North and Crystal Lake South in our next two games.”

Burlington Central junior defender Rosborough tied the game up at 1-1 with 30:45 seconds left in regulation, taking a pass and slotting it in from 14 yards.

“Sam (Knych) whips it in, and Avery Pawlisch had the fantastic dummy,” he said. “I just touched it off my chest -- then banger in the bottom corner.

“It felt amazing to bring it back to even and really got us going.

“Coach pushed us at halftime and told us we’re better than this and to show it. We have a completely different vibe than last year. We all play well together.”

Just under three minutes later, the Rockets stormed ahead much to the chagrin of the home crowd. Knych took advantage of a pass and a good bounce in a 1-v-1 situation to drill a blast from the right side inside the far post for a 2-1 lead with 27:57 remaining.

“I got a good ball and saw a defender coming and wanted to shoot it and win the game for us,” Knych said. “We had a bad start falling behind, but this showed we’re a good team that can contend for the goal.”

With 20:29 on the clock, Salas ended the scoring explosion with a rocket goal from 26 yards that padded the lead to 3-1. Salas has four goals this season.

“Avery got me the assist, and I just saw the goal, took a second to (hit) it to secure the game,” Salas said.

Pawlisch, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, finished with two assists. He said the backline did a nice job shutting down Cary-Grove in the second half. Burlington Central goalie Charles Wyzukovicz, clad in all red, finished with two saves in the victory.

“It was a quality win,” Pawlisch said. “We played really good. We came back and got the win. It’s been a fun season. We all feel good. We want to win some more games.”

Burlington Central senior forward Alan Murillo said the team showed up in the second half.

“I think at the start we were little bit slow but progressed in the second half,” he said. “We played really good in the second half. Coach told us at halftime that we’re a better team and to play our game and figure it out. We did that in the second half. We have a younger team this year, but we have good chemistry.”

Cary-Grove (1-3-0, 0-1-0) struck first on a goal by Evan Frangiamore. Soon after the Trojans suffered a near miss on a free kick, the senior midfielder answered with a missile from about 22 yards with 1:14 left until halftime.

But that was all the offense the Trojans could muster.
 

Starting lineups

Burlington Central
GK: Charles Wyzukovicz
D: Owen Carlson
D: Holden Wiegel
D: David Mancera
D: Avery Pawlisch
MF: Zach Batani
MF: Noah Rosborough
MF: Sam Knych
F: Max Salas
F: Alan Murillo
F: Haden Raders
 
Cary-Grove
GK: Ryan Dizon
D: Jack Donoghue
D: Landon Nawracaj
D: Ethan Ehlebracht
D: Finlay Evangelista
MF: Angel Apaez
MF: Daniel Czerwinski
MF: Cole Waddell
MF: Evan Frangiamore
F: Ryan Boutwell
F: Ethan Doyle
 
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Avery Pawlisch, jr., D, Burlington Central
 

Scoring summary
 
First half
Cary-Grove: Frangiamore (Waddell), 39’
 
Second half
BC: Rosborough (Pawlisch), 50’
BC: Batani (unassisted), 53’
BC: Salas (Pawlisch), 60’