Libertyville pops Larkin with second-half surge

Libertyville's boys soccer team has played in the Pepsi Showdown for a few years.

Now the Wildcats are playing for the championship of the tournament.

Libertyville, seeded eighth in the tourney, exploded with four second-half goals, two of them within a couple of minutes of each other, and topped unseeded Larkin 4-1 at Libertyville High School on Saturday night.

The Wildcats (12-0, 5-0 in the tournament) earned a date in the championship game against Morton at 11 a.m. next Sunday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.

Top-seeded Morton beat No. 4 Lyons 2-1 in overtime earlier on Saturday.

Libertyville came out a bit flat in the opening half and trailed Larkin 1-0 going into the break. But everything changed quickly in the second half.

"What's great was how we played in the second half and came out on fire," Libertyville coach Andy Bitta said. "We knew we had to play hard and keep up the intensity like we did the last 20 minutes of the first half.

"We had to turn the momentum. Getting the first goal was the big thing. We tied the game up and we just kept things rolling."

The game-changer occurred 27 seconds into the second half. Andy Loska sent a short pass off to Keenan Busse, who ran onto the ball and drilled a kick into the upper 90 from 35 yards out, tying the game.

"I was wide open on the side and I saw the goalkeeper (Santiago Guerrero) off his line," said Busse, a sophomore who lined a bicycle kick off the crossbar in the first half. "I just saw an opportunity and took it."

Libertyville took the lead just over two minutes later. Landon Eyre used his 6-foot-3 frame to flick in a header off an Adam Witucki throw-in.

"We've been working on that play for a long time," Eyre said. "I was just there to make the flick. I turned around hoping for someone else to take a shot at the back post. It was just able to go in."

The Wildcats added two goals for insurance. Miles McNeir struck in the 78th minute, and Marshall Hollingsworth tallied in the final 20 seconds.

Libertyville keeper Andrew Bitta made 6 saves, including one on a penalty shot.

Larkin (7-3-1, 4-1) got its goal in the 11th minute. Ivan Maldonado scored off an assist from Danny Valdez.

"I thought we played a good first half," said Larkin coach Ken Hall, whose team played without a couple of players out with red cards. "Libertyville was a good team and had two good chances that they put away early in the second half.

"Losing to Libertyville isn't the worst thing in the world. Goals change momentum, no doubt about it. We're still a little young and we can get fragile playing a good team. We've had some good wins this year, but Libertyville took it to us. It was a good thing for us making it to the Final Four."