Windblown tie for Royals, Sabres

The wind provided the assists for the Larkin and Streamwood girls soccer teams Monday evening.

The team attacking with the 20-plus mph wind at its back scored 4 goals in the 2-2 tie. The team going into the wind managed only one shot each, and neither were on goal.

"It was hard to play in the conditions," Royals coach Ken Hall said. "They had it down in our end the whole time in the first half. We had it in the second half."

When the ball was supposed to be stopped on the ground, it rarely stayed stopped on free kicks, goal kicks or corner kicks. On numerous occasions the ballboys had to hold the ball on corner kicks as if they were a holder for a football placekicker.

Streamwood (1-1-3, 0-0-1 Upstate Eight) had the wind advantage in the first half and scored twice in a four-minute span. Genna Borris' 30-yard shot seemed to surprise Larkin goalkeeper Anna Goodlove, who was off her line. The ball sailed over Goodlove's head and she was only able to get a hand on the shot before it went into the net 23:49 into the opening half.

Amy Tyskiewicz gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead with a 35-yard shot that Goodlove could not handle on a bounce.

"This was definitely the best showing of the season so far," Sabres coach Matt Polovin said.

Fifteen minutes into the second half the Royals (1-1-3, 0-0-1) cut the deficit in half. Jacquelin Goodlove's 20-yard shot beat Streamwood goalkeeper Pearl Patel to the far left corner with 24:55 left in the game.

Larkin continued to pressure. Kelli Johnson hit the right post on a shot with 18:30 remaining. Her free kick from 25 yards out hit Patel's hands and the goalkeeper was forced to turn around and save the ball near the goal line to keep Streamwood ahead.

The Royals finally tied the game with 6:43 left as Alyssa Burns headed in Tessa Longo's corner kick.

"I went to their pride at halftime," Hall said of his talk at the break. "We can't that think that we just show up and we're going to beat people. We've got to play hard and play smart. Streamwood earned their goals in the first half, but we didn't play hard."

Larkin had two good chances to take the lead in the final three minutes. Johnson hit the crossbar on a free kick and Patel made a save as Burns came in alone on the left side with eight seconds remaining.

"Larkin is always a good rival. We've been down against them the last few years," Polovin said. "To come out and play like we did, we could have had it. It was a good game."

Goodlove finished with 5 saves, all in the first half. Patel had 3 saves, all in the second half.