By Mike Ramczyk
Over the last four seasons, the Burlington girls soccer squad hasn’t lost a match in Southern Lakes Conference action.
You would have to go all the way back to May 2013 to find the last time the Demons lost in the SLC.
There have been a handful of ties, however, and one team that has tied Burlington each year since 2014 is Union Grove.
A scrappy young bunch comprised of mostly freshmen and sophomores, the Lady Broncos hung with the conference champs May 11 in Union Grove and managed a 0-0 tie.
Union Grove head coach Sean Jung said his squad was looking forward to meeting the Demons again, as the Broncos feel they are as close as ever to surpassing Burlington.
But their quest for an elusive conference title will have to wait one more year.
In front of a spirited home crowd at Burlington High School Thursday night, the Demons beat the Broncos, 2-1, to win the championship game of the SLC tournament and claim a fifth consecutive conference title.
Burlington improved to 12-1-3 overall and 8-0-1 in the final SLC standings, ahead of 6-1-1 Union Grove, which dropped to 15-2-2 overall.
Morgan McCourt, who has 26 goals this season, tallied both goals, including the game-winner in the 68th minute thanks to an Ashlyn Barry assist.
McCourt opened the scoring in the 15th minute, and the 1-0 lead held until the first minute of the second half. At the 45:23 mark, Kendra Hoffman tied things up at 1-1 off an assist from Alexa Panyk.
McCourt had the last laugh, finding the back of the net in the 68th minute after an Ashlyn Barry assist.
Burlington freshman Cora Anderson was busy in goal with eight saves.
Area state track qualifiers
On Thursday night, the Burlington, Waterford, Union Grove and Catholic Central track squads competed in sectionals across the state.
Here are unofficial state qualifiers:
Burlington
Emily Ustianowski, pole vault, third, 10-0; Leah Joslyn, wheelchair 100, 400, 800, shot put.
Waterford
Olivia Busch, triple jump, 2nd, 35-0.5; Girls 3,200 relay (Jayda Obluck, Haleigh Reindl, Shaelyn Mullins, Katelyn Puetz, Morgan Heeren, Alyssa Rohner), third, 9:51.98; Sean Pritchard, 400, second, 50.12; Reindl, 800, first, 2:14.61; Boys 3,200 relay (Sam Krebsbach, Adam Schubring, Jack Duerst, Josh Butscher, Pritchard, Daniel Pankowski), second, 8:02.98.
Union Grove
Riley McMahon, 3,200, second, 11:26.74
Burlington Catholic Central
Elizabeth Klein, high jump, fourth, 5-2
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