Burlington Central blasts past Larkin for first win
Burlington Central's girls soccer team needed a confidence boost and got it.
Madalene Stoneman had 2 goals and an assist as the Rockets defeated Larkin, 4-0, in a Huntley Invitational game played in Elgin Friday.
Heather Krup and Cammille DeLacruz also scored for the Rockets a day after they were shut out by Huntley in the season opener.
The game was the second round of pool play in the Huntley Invitational, which finishes up today with a final round of pool play in the morning and the finals in the afternoon.
Stoneman put the Rockets ahead in the first 5 minutes off an assist from DeLacruz.
"That was one of our goals today, to score quickly," said Central coach Mike Gecen.
After that, neither team generated much offensively until Krup scored on a breakaway in the 32nd minute.
Stoneman returned the favor, setting up DeLacruz for a score early in the second half, and Stoneman finished the scoring on a penalty kick.
Gecen expects the Rockets to be able to match up with just about anybody, but they need to believe it themselves.
"We are more confident right now," he said. "We need to ride that. We need to play with a little more confidence, a little bit of swagger even. Know that you're good, because they're a lot better than they were last year. You need to start acting like it, and have that confidence. When you're matched up with good teams, you need to have a couple of players step up and win a head-ball."
The Royals (0-3) are a work in progress, according to coach Ken Hall.
"The effort's there all the time, but we lose our shape, we lose what we're doing out on the field, we bump into each other," he said. "We're struggling to get the concept down. But we're actually getting better every game, and that's the key."
Larkin did get some chances in the second half. Wendy Guadarrama got free on a breakaway midway through the half, but sweeper Lindsey Puccio broke it up. Carol Garcia's shot late in the half was deflected, but Caitlin Solberg made the save.