Boys soccer: Larkin leads Elgin heading into weather delay
Once again this week the weather got the upper hand on Larkin.
Wednesday's Upstate Eight Conference game against archival Elgin at Memorial Field was suspended due to lightening late in the first half.
Monday's game with Dundee-Crown was also postponed due to lightening.
With 4:24 left before intermission and Larkin leading 1-0, play was stopped. After completing the 30-minute required waiting period, the match was about to restart when officials spotted more lightening and postponed the game. Action will resume Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Memorial Field.
Larkin (2-3-1, 0-0-1) will also have to wait another day to see if it can snap the Maroon's 4-year winning streak in the annual grudge match. The last time the Royals beat Elgin (3-3-1, 0-1-1) in boys soccer was 2014.
It was a scoreless contest until the 17:56 mark of the first half. Jorge Nava's 22-yard free kick from the left side of the pitch found the back of the net to put Larkin ahead.
"It was a typical Larkin-Elgin game. Records don't matter, who is playing doesn't matter," said Larkin coach Ken Hall. "It's the most important game of the year for everybody, so everybody plays hard and goes nuts out there."
Most of the action in the first half of the period was on Larkin's side. Elgin made five shots on goal that either went wide or sailed over the cross bar.
"We started off pretty good," said Elgin assistant coach Victor Camarena. "Then one of our players got injured (Jean Padilla) and we kind of went down a little bit."
Padilla was taken out after colliding with a Larkin defender in the 10th minute. He returned to the pitch after five minutes of play.
"I thought we were a little rushed at the beginning. I think we settled down after the first 10 minutes or so and got into it," Hall said. "I felt we were getting better as the game progressed."
Neither side plans to make any changes when the match resumes.
"No, we are pretty much going to go with same," said Hall.
"The main goal here is to get the W and that's what we are going to go for," Camarema said.
"They are just going to get a good night's sleep."