Boys soccer: Larkin strikes quickly, blanks rival in regional semifinal win

Larkin scored three times before the first half was halfway through during Wednesday’s Class 3A Elgin regional semifinal against the host Maroons.

That’s all the scoring that would take place during Larkin’s 3-0 victory.

The Royals will take on South Elgin (19-3-1) back at Memorial Field on Saturday at noon for the regional championship.

"We were much more aggressive than the last time we played them and looking for the goals early was the plan,” Larkin coach Michael Huizar said. “When we got our three (goals) then we really took our foot off the gas and we just wanted to secure it. This is a rivalry so it can get intense so we made sure to really sit back in that second half and make them come to us and it seemed to work out. It was solid. The boys were waiting for this game all season.”

Julian Miranda scored on a 10-yard strike off a pass from fellow senior Jonathan Garcia in the 11th minute.

“It was a good ball,” Miranda said. “I just tried to take a touch, got a decent touch and then saw the opening on the right side so I shot it. We were definitely excited to play them. Losing to them (on Sept. 9) wasn’t good. We were tied 2-2 and lost on pens so we definitely brought energy to the game.”

It was a pen from Garcia that gave the Royals (9-8-3) a cushion in the 16th minute.

“In all my four years we’d never beat them,” Garcia said. “So it’s pretty good to finally beat them and in playoffs, too.”

Junior forward Brian Ceja joined in on the offensive assault with 21:29 still remaining in the first half and Elgin (8-8-2) never responded.

“It was not what we were expecting,” Elgin coach Antonio Zavala said. “They came in fired up and we didn’t bring any energy since the beginning. So they got three goals really quick and we couldn’t get back to them.”

Elgin had a chance to cut into Larkin’s lead midway through the second half, but missed a penalty kick wide right.

In the earlier game, the Storm rolled to a 6-0 victory over DeKalb. Alan Munoz and Jacob Buthman each scored twice.

“Nineteen wins is nothing to sneeze at, but either one of these teams (Larkin and Elgin) will be a huge test for us on Saturday,” Storm coach Jerzy Skowron said. “And we want revenge on one of them. If it’s the other one, we’ll take another win against them, but we can’t take either of them lightly. They're both very good teams.”

The Storm beat the Royals, 2-0, on Sept. 23.