Larkin opens up season with shutout of Jacobs
Larkin girls soccer coach Ken Hall was eager to find out what he had on his team going into its opening game Tuesday night.
Cold tempatures and adverse weather had prevented the Royals from even practicing outdoors thus far, preventing Hall from seeing what his girls could do on the field.
It didn't take long for the Royals to warm up against Jacobs at Streamwood's Millennium field.
Becky Gabrys took a shot deflected off a Golden Eagles' defender and scored just 1 minutes, 35 seconds into the Royals' season. The junior's shot sailed past Jacobs' goalie Alyssa Barnhard (3 saves), who was playing her first game in the net.
Larkin extended its lead to 2-0 in the final 2 minutes of the first half and posted a 2-0 nonconference victory.
Junior Kelli Johnson sailed a free kick right to forward Alyssa Burns. The senior quickly tapped the ball into the goal giving the Royals a comfort zone to ride into the second half.
"I thought we did real well in the first half," Gabrys said. "In the second half we kind of let down a little because we had a 2-0 lead."
The Golden Eagles were much more aggressive in the second half.
Ashley Bliznick led Jacobs (0-3) on three different offensive attacks in the game's final 25 minutes. Prior to that, Jacobs had just 1 shot on goal.
Bliznick changed that in hurry when her line-drive shot with 25 minutes left went just wide right. The senior sent a corner kick pass to Jesica Perrone with 15:52 to play. Perrone's header appeared on track, but nailed the top crossbar. Larkin goalkeeper Anna Goodlove finished with both of her saves in the second half.
"(Bliznick) stepped up," Jacobs' coach Jim Dzialo said. "She played very well tonight."
Jacobs was extremely short-handed Tuesday night. Junior goalkeeper Caite Quitschau, along with sisters Alyssa and Kelsey, were attending a funeral. Senior Markie Rahn injured her toe in Jacobs' 6-1 loss to Deerfield on Monday night and projected starter Emily Price was lost for the year with a preseason ACL injury.
While Gabrys and Bliznick showed their respective teams what they had offensively, Larkin also answered some defensive questions.
Ashley Somophonophakdy held down the right side of the defensive field for the Royals in her first game at the position.
"Ashley did a pretty good job on the outside right defense," Hall said. "The best thing to come out of this game is I know that I can trust her there."
Girls soccer
Huntley 6, Richmond-Burton 0: Huntley came out ready in its season opener against Richmond-Burton defeating the Rockets 6-0. Taylor Henning-Fletter scored the first three Huntley goals, assisted on the first two by Aimee Wronski and Ashley Williams. Huntley's next goal was scored by Wronski, followed by Alyssa Silvestri and Kelly Creager. Sarah Hoffman was in the net for the Red Raiders collecting 2 saves.
St. Edward 5, Timothy Christian 2: The Green Wave were able to snag a season-opening victory defeating Timothy Christian in nonnconference action. Brittany Brozek and Colleen Kerger each scored in the first half and were both assisted by Alex Rubio. Leading into the second half St. Edward was able to keep the momentum going as Mallory Malone scored on an assist from Bianca Ramirez. Brozek and Rubio each scored unassisted. Taylor Hunsberger was in goal for the Green Wave and tallied 6 saves.
Boys volleyball
Larkin d. Oswego East: In two tough games, Larkin (2-0) was able to come out on top as the Royals battled to defeat Oswego East 26-24, 25-21. Brad Potts led the Royals with 9 kills and 2 aces. Brendyn Dobbeck put up 17 assists with 2 kills, while teammates Alan Rosenburg and Joe Leganski each added 3 kills and 2 blocks to lead Larkin to victory.
Bartlett d. Maine South: In three close games the Hawks (1-0) were able to come back and defeat Maine South 20-25, 26-24, 26-24. Chris Guimon (8 kills, 2 blocks) and Scott Ruchn (8 kills, 3 aces) each contributed to this victory. Jason Theobold posted 28 assists for Bartlett.