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Late goal lifts Larkin
Updated: August 31, 2011 9:48PM
Just when it looked like Larkin would have to settle for an uninspiring tie against South Elgin on Tuesday night, Roberto Torres changed every thing into a jubilant celebration at Memorial Field for the Royals. With just 1:02 left in the game Torres took a soft touch pass from Tony Hernandez and drilled a shot off South Elgin goalkeeper John Schieler’s shinguard and into the net to give the Royals a 2-1 win.
“That has to be the most exciting goal I have ever scored,” said Torres. “Tony made a great pass to get me the ball. I thought the goaltender had stopped it but it made it through. Our team just never stopped trying right up to the end.”
The win was just what the doctor ordered for a Larkin team that was off to a disappointing 1-2-1 record.
“We needed this,” said Larkin coach Ken Hall.”We started the season with some high expectations, but we’ve kind of wilted under some of the pressure of being ranked in some of the polls. But there’s no question this is the type of game that could get us right back on track.”
Things did not start out well for the Royals. Just over eight minutes into the game South Elgin struck first when Brett Hildebrandt scored to put the Storm up 1-0. South Elgin had a chance to add to its lead with just over 14 minutes left in the first half on a breakaway oppurtunity, but Mike Kozielek’s shot hit the left post.
Larkin immediately reversed the field and and Danny Valdez scored an unassisted goal on the other end to tie the score 1-1 with 13:46 left in the half. Larkin kept the pressure on from there with a 7-3 shot advantage the rest of way.
“We got caught playing back at the start of the game,” said Hall. “We have a ton of speed and a dearth of talent, but sometimes we just don’t use it. We settle for just possessing the ball. But I thought after that first goal we started going on the attack and that’s what we need to do a lot more.”
South Elgin (2-2) had a couple chances in the second half, but a breakaway oppurtunity with just over 14 minutes left to play was broken up and a free kick from just outside the box with a little over five minutes to play was sent wide.
“To play as well as we did and not be able to walk out of here with at least a tie is tough to take,” said Storm coach John Uveges. “But we knew Larkin could strike quickly and we got a little careless with the ball toward the end of the game. We sent to many balls long and for a possession team like us that’s the same as a turnover. But we had our oppurtunities before that and couldn’t take advantage.”
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