Larkin comes back to shock South Elgin
Larkin boys soccer coach Ken Hall's halftime address to his team was to the point after the Royals played tentatively and fell behind No. 1 seed South Elgin 2-0 in Tuesday's Class 3A Huntley regional semifinal.
"There was one message at halftime: Be a man," Hall said. "If you're going to go out and lose this game, go out and play as hard as you can and if they beat you, they beat you. But we've got to go out and give it the effort. It was night and day the first half to the second half."
The Royals, with four freshman and five sophomores playing key roles, grew up in a hurry against the senior-heavy Storm. They dominated play in the second half, scoring twice to force overtime, and freshman Erik Rodriguez finished off South Elgin with his goal 1:51 into the extra period to lift Larkin to a 3-2 victory.
No. 4 Larkin (7-15-2) will await the winner of today's semifinal between No. 2 Huntley and No. 3 Elgin in the regional title match on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
In overtime, Rodriguez took advantage of a failed South Elgin clearance after a cross. He took possession near the top of the box and buried the ball low to the left corner for the winning goal.
"I kind of interpreted that (the defender) wasn't going to get his head on it from his step," Rodriguez said, "so I went in once he headed the ball. The first thing I thought when I got the ball was shoot because my coaches had been telling me all game, 'Shoot, shoot.'"
The goal by Rodriguez, a freshman, was his second of the game and seventh of the season. His first goal 20:42 left in the second half knotted the match at 2 goals apiece.
That play began with a free kick from just inside midfield by junior defenseman Alex Sanchez. He lifted a long kick over the pack in the penalty box to the head of freshman midfielder Tony Hernandez, who directed the ball to the net. South Elgin goalkeeper Ryan Hicks made an initial sliding save but the rebound squirted to his right, where Rodriguez pounced on it for the tying marker.
"He's a great scorer," Hall said of Rodriguez. "He knows what to do around the net."
Earlier, Larkin pulled within 2-1 on a penalty kick. A South Elgin defender was whistled for bringing down Larkin forward Ivan Maldonado at the right edge of the penalty area. The Storm players protested the call, resulting in two players being booked with yellow cards for dissent, and Tony Hernandez sent the penalty shot past the Storm keeper with 35:46 left in regulation for his fourth goal of the season.
South Elgin (11-6-3) took a 1-0 lead on senior Bart Mazurek's 22nd goal of the season with 38 minutes left in the first half. Mazurek received nice a feed up the middle of the field from Kevin McElwain and launched a shot into the upper-right corner of the net.
The Storm made it 2-0 when junior Ernesto Acosto, controlling the ball to the right of the net along the end line, sent a cross toward the net. The Larkin keeper leaped to grab it, but the ball went off his fingertips and it rolled into the net with 12:30 left in the first half.
South Elgin was forced into a defensive posture throughout the second half by a more aggressive Larkin side.
"Tactically, both sides didn't change things up," South Elgin coach Mark Neville said. "I think it was more of an effort thing. All the little 50-50 loose balls they seemed to get to, and they created advantages out of that and we weren't able to do as much with what we had. They had the bulk of it."
Said Mazurek: "My guess is that we came into the second half winning so we were overconfident, and it just didn't turn out the way we wanted it."