Larkin falls to Boylan in PKs
Larkin made sure that its Thursday night opponent Rockford Boylan (21-1-2) would have a hard time living up to its No. 1 billing at the Class 3A Barrington boys soccer sectional, taking the top seed Titans into a shootout before falling 3-2 in kicks and 2-1 to see its season end on a frigid October night in the northern suburbs.
The Royals (13-7-4), who reached the sectional final last season only to fall to eventual 3A runner-up Lake Zurich, had built a head of steam in their attempt to return to play into the final week once again after capturing the Rockford Guilford regional to advance to face Boylan, which had not lost a match since the first week of September when it dropped a 2-0 decision to St. Charles North in the title match of the Barrington Classic.
“This team never really got noticed for what we had done all season, even after we came back to win the regional title when we came back from 2 goals down against South Elgin to win 4-2,” said Larkin senior Tony Hernandez, who brought his club even when he converted his PK at 55 minutes, but would later watch Titans keeper Tim Dobrowolski stop his 5th round spot-kick to give Boylan the match.
Hernandez, who was just one of 5 seniors on the Royals' 2010 roster, was superb in his final match under head coach Ken Hall, but it was junior keeper Santiago Guerrero who would steal the headlines with a boxcar full of sensational saves to dazzle the crowd, and help keep his club this close to advancing into the final Saturday against Round Lake.
“Santiago has been like that for us the entire season, and tonight he was just amazing,” said Hall.
“I thought we created some very good chances, but their keeper would keep them in the game with some unbelievable saves,” offered Boylan head coach Chris Mera.
All-state candidate Victor Zamora would have his close range blast turned away by Guerrero at 9 minutes, then later crash another off the bar to end a first half of play which was graded out as an evenly played 40 minutes of soccer, despite Zamora's 23rd goal of the season at 34 minutes, when Larkin allowed the junior far too much space to operate in its own end.
Michel Gomez would be the architect in the Royals' lone goal, when the sophomore was taken down inside the box to allow Hernandez his chance to convert a PK when he went left, and past Dobrowolski, who guessed the other way.
Guerrero was magnificent on consecutive strikes from Tyler Robinson on both occasions, with his save on the junior's first attempt as astonishing a save to be seen, when he raised his right glove at the last minute to get enough of a point-blank missile to turn the shot up and over the bar to keep things even at 68 minutes.
The Royals' keeper was at it again in the 109th minute, again against Robinson, and as the final 10-minute extra session would be nearing an end, and just moments after his teammate Gomez would send a ball back into the area and force Dobrowolski into saving.
In the shootout, the Royals quickly fell behind 2-1, but would draw even at 2-2 after Danny Ramirez finished to the left of the Titans keeper.
Each keeper would save 4th round spot-kicks, but after Edwin Munoz finished to the left of Guerrero, Dobrowolski would make a glove save on Hernandez to end the match.
“It sometimes is a cruel way to end a long, hard-fought match, but someone has to come away from here with the win,” said Hall.
“We did well today, and our effort was very good, so we'll look to next season (now) with many of our players coming back, and with another year of experience under their belts.”