Determined Royals reach Pepsi title match

Confidence, determination and dedication added up to a trip to the finals of the Pepsi Showdown for the Larkin boys soccer team.

The second-seeded Royals scored a pair of second half goals in the final 12-minutes on Saturday afternoon as they got past No. 3 Geneva 2-1 in the semifinals at the Lyons Soccer complex in LaGrange.

Michael Beruquin and Justin Bragg each scored goals while Royals keeper Raziel Somarriba made 9 saves.

Larkin (8-0) will meet up with No. 8 Loyola (6-2) in the championship game on Sunday, October 5 at 10 a.m. at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.

Loyola won its semifinal, getting past No. 4 Libertyville 2-1.

"We had a purpose coming in and we wanted to get to Toyota Park," said Larkin coach Ken Hall, whose team didn't get out of the first round last year. "This group has grown up together and are good students. It's all the dedication. They really dedicated themselves coming in as sophomores (only lost one game). We knew this last year, we would be good a team and good things would happen."

Larkin's Bragg found a good thing, a game-winning goal in the 74th minute, his first of the season. It came on a corner kick in which the Vikings couldn't get the ball cleared out of their area.

"I was trying to stay near the back post," Bragg said. "It seemed like everybody was staying in the middle. The ball came to me and I put in the back post."

Beruquin tied the game 6 minutes earlier for the Royals, also taking a loose ball and finding the back of the net.

Geneva (8-1-1), which suffered its first loss of the season, had taken a 1-0 advantage 90 seconds into the match. Ben Orr knocked in the goal from Shawn Sloan's end line pass.

However, the Vikings couldn't hold on to the lead. The momentum shifted the other way in the second half and in the latter stages of the contest in favor of Larkin.

"Larkin took the better side and we didn't create too many opportunities," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "I think we were looking into the future rather than focusing on the present game.

"Hats off to Larkin; they earned it today. This was the state tournament in September. Hopefully, we can recover. We've taken the tightrope too many times and it definitely caught up to us."