MAPLE PARK — The Hubs varsity soccer team hadn’t beaten Sterling since 2012 prior to Wednesday night’s IHSA Class 2A Regional Semifinal matchup against the Golden Warriors. But after nearly 70 minutes of scoreless play from both sides, Rochelle finally broke through the Sterling wall.

With the wind at their backs, the Hubs struck first when junior Jessee Infante found freshman Brayan Orozco (69’) cutting toward the Sterling net. Rochelle added two more late goals from sophomore Austin Brown (74’) and Infante (77’), and the No. 6 seeded Hubs held the No. 3 seeded Golden Warriors scoreless behind seven saves from junior Mason DeLille to win by a final score of 3-0.

Rochelle improves to 12-7-1 on the season with the victory, and the Hubs will battle No. 2 seed Kaneland on its home field Saturday morning for a shot at their first regional championship since 2012, when Rochelle defeated Dixon 3-1 after taking down Sterling in the semifinals.

“I was really happy when I scored,” Orozco said through his teammate Infante, who served as a Spanish-English translator. “We were passing and communicating. We’ll have to do whatever it takes to win on Saturday.”

After both teams combined for 11 goals this past Thursday, with Sterling topping Rochelle 6-5, the two Northern Illinois Big 12 West rivals locked in on Wednesday. Neither Rochelle nor Sterling earned many good offensive opportunities in the first half, and after 40 minutes of play, the Hubs and Golden Warriors were tied 0-0.

But the floodgates appeared to open after Orozco’s goal put Rochelle ahead 1-0. Looking to extend his team’s lead, Brown launched a shot on the Sterling net from just a few feet inside the midfield line. The ball bent left as it soared through the air, flying over the outstretched hands of the Sterling keeper and into the upper corner of the goal.

“I saw that the goalie wasn’t paying attention and I just ripped it as hard as I could,” Brown said. “They stole conference from us, so we couldn’t let them come back and take regionals from us too. We had to take something from them.”

Leading 2-0, Rochelle junior Adolfo Flores tapped a free kick from outside the Sterling penalty box toward the left side of the post. A designed play the Hubs have successfully run several times this season, Infante broke away from a trio of Sterling defenders, and the junior kicked in Rochelle’s third goal after a brief battle for possession with the Sterling keeper.

The Hubs will have a few days to celebrate before taking on Kaneland Saturday morning. The Knights defeated Rochelle 5-4 earlier this season, and the Hubs will be looking for their second consecutive upset.

“It was a real stress reliever,” Infante said. “I thought the game was still on our shoulders, but right when I scored the third goal, I felt like the game was over with… We really have to stay focused throughout both halves on Saturday.”