Lake Zurich picks it up, denies Larkin

Possession wasn't a problem Tuesday night for the Lake Zurich boys soccer team.

Intensity, a bullet-point preached at halftime by coach Mike Schmitz, was.

After 80 minutes, intensity was an issue no more.

Nine second-half shots to Larkin's none set the stage for Lake Zurich's 2-1 win in the second round of the PepsiCo Showdown at Memorial Field in Elgin.

The No. 9 Bears took advantage of No. 8 Larkin's inability to mark and senior midfielder Ian Murray tapped in the game-winner inside the right post off senior midfielder Collin Foreman's free kick 35-yards out in the 45th minute to break a 1-1 tie the teams carried into halftime.

Foreman also had the game's first goal on assist from Murray in the 25th minute - a product of Murray dribbling into the midfielder, drawing defenders and Foreman making a diagonal cut just outside of the box - and the duo's efforts advanced the Bears (8-3) on to the quarterfinals Thursday to play top-seeded Morton, which was a 3-0 winner over No. 16 Kelly.

"Something we've been working on all season is coming every game being ready to play with high intensity," Foreman said. "We didn't have it in the first half and we picked it up in the second half and it really showed."

Larkin's Hector Mendoza strike that crossed the box from left to right tied it up just 2 minutes after Foreman's goal in the first half, but that was the best look Larkin would get all night. The Bears tightened the lid on the pitch in the final 40 minutes and Lake Zurich might have been up 5-1 if not 3 shots, 2 of which from Collin Foote, rise just above the crossbar. Ian Root had a shot find the net but a handball negated the boot.

"You could hear a pin drop on the field (in the first half) and in the second half we wanted to come out with way more intensity," Murray said. "We knew they there were going to come out hard and we wanted to come out harder and get a ton of shots. That's what we needed to do."

Larkin was held without a shot on goal in the second half as Lake Zurich won the overall shot edge 13-3 while forcing the issue with 7 corner kicks and 5 free kicks. Dan Grabowski managed 1 save but the back line of Jacob Karbowski, Scott Shadrick Dan Ross and Root made it tough for the Royals all night long to get anything on goal.

Larkin's a very dangerous team they have a lot of skilled players," Schmitz said. "If you can keep them out of their end you're doing yourself a favor."

The Royals (2-5-2) struggled winning balls in the midfield nor did they challenge the Bears throughout. Turnovers also presented Larkin some issues.

"I think they're a very good team and I'm not taking anything away from them but both (Lake Zurich's) goals were silly turnovers on our part," said Royals' coach Ken Hall. "Eight-year-olds know how to mark. How do you leave two people wide open on the far post on a free kick?"

"It's just been simple errors, it's been happening all season," Mendoza said. "You get stupid fouls and they score on us. It's things we have to work on."