Boys soccer: Larkin blanks Dundee-Crown

Recovering nicely from a slow start to the season, Larkin's boys soccer team capped a solid week with Saturday's 2-0 nonconference victory over Dundee-Crown at Memorial Field in Elgin.

After suffering 4 consecutive losses, the Royals climbed above the .500 mark (5-4-1) with their defensive masterpiece against the youthful Chargers (4-5).

"What I liked more than anything was that we really didn't give them a good scoring opportunity the whole game," said Larkin coach Ken Hall, whose team began the week with a 1-1 tie against perennial power St. Charles North before blanking Prairie Ridge 2-0 on Thursday.

"We've been on a nice stretch," Hall said of the Royals, who are now 5-0-1 in their last 6 contests. "We've beaten and tied some real quality teams. Getting our team back has really helped us. We didn't have (senior) Roberto Escobar the first four games and he makes a big difference in the middle of the field."

Neither team attempted a shot over the first 22 minutes, while offensive opportunities were scarce for the majority of the first half.

"Their midfielders played really well at the beginning and ours didn't," said Hall. "The midfield is the engine of the game. We weren't really getting what we wanted.

"As soon as our midfielders started getting going - I'd say with about 20 minutes left in the first half - our midfielders started taking over and I thought we controlled it from that point forward."

Junior midfielder Sammy Rodriguez converted on the Royals' first real scoring threat, taking a feed from Escobar and delivering a right-footed shot that snuck past Chargers sophomore keeper Damien Smiech (4 saves) with 1:25 remaining before halftime.

"It was a tight game so getting that one kind of opened things for us," said Hall.

"I thought it was fairly evenly matched and then we gave up that goal with a minute and a half left in the half - big mistake there," said Chargers coach Rey Vargas. "It hurt us a little bit."

Senior midfielder Chris Plantz added the Royals' second goal on a picture-perfect free kick from 29 yards out with 11:56 left.

The left-footed blast landed in the upper right-hand corner of the net.

"I was just trying to put it on goal," said Plantz. "Curve it over the wall, look for the top corner and it got there."

"It was a great free kick that he hit," Hall said of Plantz. "Aldair (Ortega) made a good move to draw it (foul). That's a part of the play that often times get overlooked. It was a good play by him and a very nice strike by Chris."

Earlier in the half, Plantz was forced to the bench for a few minutes after taking a blow to the back of his head while leaping for a header.

"I got a nice bump but I was fine after that," said Plantz.

Freshman keeper Jorge Nava recorded 4 saves for the Royals.

Dundee-Crown tripled its shot production in the second half but came away empty.

"A lot of it is our lack of experience," said Vargas. "We've just got to keep working and figure it out."