Girls soccer: Jacobs downs Larkin to move on
Scoring early and often and taking advantage of a 40 mile per hour gusting wind, third-seeded Jacobs tallied 4 first half goals which lifted the Golden Eagles to a 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded Larkin in semifinal action of the Class 3A Jacobs girls soccer regional Wednesday night in Algonquin.
"With the way the wind was it was very important to score as many goals as we could in the first half," said Jacobs coach Mike Hanley. "We were a little nervous early but once we settled down we played well."
The Golden Eagles (11-6) will take on second-seeded Cary-Grove for the regional title Friday at 5 p.m.
The Trojans, who outshot No. 9 seed 9 Grant 23-2, cruised to an easy 7-0 win.
Cary-Grove blanked Jacobs 3-0 in Cary April 27.
"It was a 1-0 game late," said Hanley. "We played Cary-Grove tough. They got a couple of late goals. They are a very good team. It will certainly be a challenge for us."
Jacobs scored first with 8:16 elapsed when Karissa Gottardo emerged from a pile in front of the net and blasted a shot past Larkin (13-9) goalkeeper Haley Casebeer.
The Golden Eagles built up a 2-goal cushion when Madison Belo scored on a direct kick at the 15:54 mark.
Jacobs grabbed a 3-0 advantage when, off a perfect pass from Hannah Mohan, Kelsey Medina buried a shot in the net with 4:22 left in the first half.
Belo, with 2:05 remaining in the first half, scored her second goal of the night on a penalty kick. The Golden Eagles held a 4-0 advantage at intermission.
"I like taking direct kicks and penalty kicks," said Belo. "It is all mental. We knew we had to take advantage of the wind in the first half."
Cassie Kowalski gave the Eagles a 5-0 lead with a goal off a penalty kick with 5:44 gone in the second half.
Larkin, which managed only 1 shot on Jacobs goalie Emily Pasetes in the first half, peppered the Golden Eagles keeper with 12 shots in the second half.
The Royals got on the scoreboard with an unassisted goal by Elizabeth Baeza with 27:48 left in the contest.
Larkin's second goal came courtesy of Leslie Reyes off an assist by Miranda Preuss with 13:07 remaining.
The final goal of the night was from Jacobs' Peyton Adams on a breakaway with 4:30 left.
Jacobs outshot Larkin 14-13. Pasetes registered 11 saves for the winners while Casebeer collected 8 saves for the Royals.
"I never question the effort with this group," said Larkin coach Ken Hall. "The execution isn't always there, but these kids will never quit. The 13 wins is the most since 2006. It was a good season."