Rewarding senior night for Larkin
The Larkin girls soccer team probably felt it deserved a couple lucky breaks.
The Royals got two fortunate bounces Tuesday evening and both resulted in goals as Larkin defeated crosstown rival Elgin, 2-1, in Upstate Eight Conference River Division action at Memorial Field.
“We haven’t had the best season,” said Larkin’s Amanda Lane, who was celebrating her senior night. “We give it our all. It’s nice to have something good happen.”
Larkin (3-13-1, 1-4) benefitted from an Elgin own goal with 29:28 remaining in the first half. Jaclyn Bridgers took a corner kick that was going to the near post. An Elgin defender, trying to clear the ball, miskicked it into the Maroons net for a 1-0 Royals lead.
“We have set pieces on corner kicks. That wasn’t it,” Larkin coach Ken Hall said. “We’ll take it.”
Lane scored what turned out to be the game-winner with 21:36 left in the match. A clearing attempt came out to Leslie Avalos. Her shot would have been well wide, but Lane got her right leg up and deflected it toward the far post. Before Maroons goalkeeper Marisela Moscote could get to the bouncing ball it crossed the goal line.
Elgin (0-12, 0-5) controlled the play most of the match, but couldn’t get many good scoring opportunities. The Maroons’ lone goal come less than a minute and half after Lane’s goal. Jennifer Lopez fired a long-range shot from 35 yards out that got over Larkin goalkeeper Diana Hernandez’s head and underneath the crossbar to cut the deficit to 2-1.
“I think we controlled we happened for the most part,” Elgin coach Alicia Andrade said. “They fought back really hard. I can’t complain.”
Hernandez made 4 saves for the Royals. Moscote made 1 save for Elgin.