Larkin tops Fenwick to stay unbeaten

Larkin boys soccer coach Ken Hall knows teams are going to use different alignments to slow down what has been a high-powered offense.

The Royals will have to make the necessary adjustments. They did just that Thursday night.

After failing behind 6 minutes into the match, Larkin scored three unanswered goals to beat the Friars, 3-1, in Pepsi Showdown action at Memorial Field.

"We've got to get used to this," Hall said. "They had 10 (players) behind the ball at all times. It took us 15, 20 minutes to recognize it. Once we did that, I think we dominated after that point."

Fenwick (4-3) came out in a 4-5-1 formation, trying to minimize the amount of time the Royals' midfielders would have looking for speedy forwards Raul Sandoval and Michael Berequin.

"On a long, narrow, short field the best thing that we could do was to jam up the midfield," Friars coach Robert Watson said. "I think, against a real good team, you're better off trying to keep the game close and try to win it later. If you try to attack a team like that, then they end up winning 6, 7 to nothing."

The Friars got an opportunity to score early as they got a free-kick chance near the left sideline. Ryan Saran headed home Killian Frailey's cross with just 6:04 into the match.

Larkin (6-0) struggled to create many scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes. But once the Royals figured out how to attack the Friars' formation, the chances kept coming. They tied the game with 11:05 remaining in the first half as Misael Hernandez headed in Carson McFadden's free kick.

Eighty seconds later Sandoval connected on the game-winner off a cross from Justin Bragg.

"We have a tendency to score in spurts. There's no doubt about that," Hall said. "The first one is always the key. It seems once we get that one it seems the floodgates open."

Berequin finished the scoring with a left-footed blast that hit the inside of the right post and deflected into the net with 21:47 left in the match.

"They were way faster than us in the first 20 minutes. They had the better touch of the ball," Sandoval said. "We stepped up our game, got the 2-1 score and kept it going."

Larkin's Raziel Somarriba made 6 saves, including a diving save off a free kick from Frailey with 3 minutes left in the first half to keep the Royals ahead. Pat McMahon made 7 saves for the Friars.