Janus, Lake Zurich put away Larkin

That must have been one good halftime talk.

The Lake Zurich boys soccer team dominated the second half Friday night and scored 4 goals in six minutes to break open a 1-0 game to capture the Class 3A Barrington sectional championship with a 5-0 victory over Larkin.

"Coach (Mike) Schmitz gave us a hard talk at halftime," said Lake Zurich senior Nick Janus, who scored 3 second-half goals. "I think we came out with a different mindset. Our team as a whole knew we had to put them away."

The Bears (19-4) advance to play Schaumburg, the winner of the Hoffman Estates sectional, at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Barrington supersectional with a trip to the state semifinals on the line.

"We're trying to take it one game at a time and enjoy it," Schmitz said. "Definitely not looking ahead at anything else."

Lake Zurich opened the scoring with 6:05 remaining in the first half. Janus' shot was blocked by Royals defender Alex Sanchez. The ball went right to Brett Harper, who fired a right-footed blast past goalkeeper Santiago Guerrero.

But the Bears weren't happy with their offensive effort going into a strong breeze. Coming out after halftime, the Bears put on the pressure, forcing Guerrero to make a save just 25 seconds into the half. Five minutes into the second half Janus gave Lake Zurich a 2-0 lead with a left-footed shot from the top of the box. Thirty-two seconds later the senior forward put home a rebound for a 3-0 lead.

Tim Kreutz made it 4-0 with 30:24 left, putting home his own rebound. Janus, who now has 21 goals on the season, completed his hat trick with 28:58 remaining.

"Their speed is just awesome," Larkin coach Ken Hall said. "We just couldn't handle it."

The Royals (9-16-3) did not have a shot on goal, but had a couple of good scoring opportunites in the first half. Josue Medina's was just wide with a long shot 18 minutes in. A few minutes later, Erik Rodriguez had a shot deflect wide after having a good shooting lane.

Hall doesn't expect the Bears' run to stop anytime soon.

"We've played them twice. We've played Neuqua. I think they can beat Neuqua," Hall said. "I think we just lost to the state champs, I think."