Elgin-Larkin soccer match goes to Royals

According to Larkin boys soccer coach Ken Hall, there were two real differences between Elgin and Larkin as the cross-town rivals met in head to head Upstate Eight Conference action Tuesday.

Forward Raul Sandoval and sweeper Fernando Alverez.

And difference-makers they were -- on both ends of the field.

When all was said and done, Larkin (5-2, 2-0) walked away with the 2-0 Upstate Eight shutout over the Maroons. Sandoval and Alverez played a part in both scores.

It was a battle of the bookends for the first 27 minutes as both teams fought to score but were each denied by goalkeepers Nikil Satish (Elgin) and Raziel Somarriba (6 saves) of Larkin. Defenders Roberto Quintana (Elgin), Kevin Rodriguez (Elgin) and Mitch Tyton (Larkin) also played their parts in the scoreless bout.

It would be Sandoval who would get Larkin on the board.

With 13 minutes left to play in the first half, Mike Gloss found David Rodriguez in front of the Elgin net. Rodriguez dished off a perfect pass to Sandoval, who reared back and fired one past Satish (11 saves) to make it 1-0 Larkin.

"It's always about the first goal," said Sandoval. "Before the game, coach said 'the first goal is almost always the winning goal.'

"It's all about finishing."

Early goals against the Maroons have been an Achilles heel so to speak, and while they managed to avoid that first goal against for the bulk of the first half, Larkin finally broke them down.

"Raul has had a nagging knee injury," said Hall. "Today was his best game. I thought he looked full strength.

"When he got that feed, he didn't try to rush things or push too hard, he just took his time and got off a beautiful shot."

Despite the deficit, Elgin (7-2, 1-1) didn't let up. After an exchange of scoreless corners, Elgin's Joel Perez created some scoring opportunities for the Maroons, but they just struggled to finish.

"We were struggling in the middle of the field early," said Elgin coach Dave Borg. "We made some adjustments at the half.

"Larkin is quick and they have strength, but we were able to create some second-half chances. We just didn't take advantage."

Larkin did.

With 7 minutes left to play, Fernando Alverez distributed a free kick from the midfield to Steven Drew, whose shot sailed over Satish and into the net to make it 2-0.

"It was a tough game," said Hall. "Both teams played very well defensively. I think Dave is right. This is one of the best Elgin teams we've faced, and they are going to surprise some people."

Elgin will look ahead.

"What we have to do is bounce back," said Borg. "I think this game was closer than 2-0. This could have been a tie, but they (Larkin) got the better of us.

"Still, I'm happy with what we did against an elite team like Larkin."

Dundee-Crown 2, Cary-Grove 1: Calvin Brown will go through the rest of the season knowing Dundee-Crown's shot never crossed the goal line.

Unfortunately for the Cary-Grove junior, when Eddie Bernal's corner kick deflected off of Ryan Merkel with 28 seconds left in the first half, a line was crossed -- an emotional line for the Trojans and the goal line for the Chargers.

Merkel used his body to score the tying goal and the Chargers rode the intensity until Christian Meza scored 3 minutes, 18 seconds into overtime giving Dundee-Crown a 2-1 victory over visiting Cary-Grove in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game in Carpentersville.

"We thought that it was stopped and didn't cross the line," Brown said. "It hit deep when it went in."

The loss in the first of the season for Cary-Grove (8-1, 1-1) and ties the Trojans with Dundee-Crown (4-2-1, 1-1-0) in the Valley Division. Although neither team scored in the second half, the emotions were visible from both sides.

Dundee-Crown attempted 5 shots in the second half, compared to just 2 in the first half. Cary-Grove, had 5 shot attempts in the first half, but notched just 2 attempts in the second half. Trojans goalkeeper Ben Alleva finished with 7 saves.

"If we didn't get that goal (in the first half), I don't know what the outcome would have been," Meza said. "Cary-Grove is a great team. We needed this win for our confidence and for the conference."

After containing Meza for all of regulation, it didn't take the senior long before he connected the game-winner in overtime. Meza took a pass from Kurt Scheffrahn. He called off a couple of teammates before dribbling past a pair of Trojans' defenders and hitting a 15-yard shot to score his seventh goal of the year.

Prior to his goal, Meza had just 1 shot attempt during the game, which came when he worked his way around the Trojans' defense to get open. After finding a small hole, his shot went right over the goal box with 6:53 left in regulation.

"You can't give him any room," Cary-Grove coach Mark Olson said of Meza. "We did a great job for 84 minutes. It's hard to hold down good players."

Dundee-Crown had its share of problems containing Cary-Grove early on.

Brown gave the Trojans an early lead when he scored with 29:33 left in the first half. Brown connected on a pass from Tyler Cuchna. He sailed his shot past Dundee-Crown goalkeeper Mike Zozokos (6 saves).

"They had to play a little more physical," said Dundee-Crown coach Rey Vargas of his team's different play in the two halves. "We have to do a better job passing the ball around and it will come."

-- Matt Stacionis