ROYALS ROCKED
ST. CHARLES -- Eight minutes separated highly regarded Larkin from the program's third straight regional title on Saturday against host St. Charles North.
Unfortunately for the Royals, that is an amount of time they will never get back.
(Shauna Bittle/Staff photographer)
Ninth-seeded St. Charles North scored two goals in the final eight minutes, including the game-winner with 3:56 left, to shock the top-seeded Royals 2-1 and advance to the Wheaton North Class 3A Sectional semifinals.
"Our backs were against the wall and we kind of felt like we had nothing to lose. We just had to keep fighting until the end," said St. Charles North coach Eric Willson, whose team lost to Larkin by the same score less than two weeks ago during the Upstate Eight Conference's regular season. "We had been knocking on the door. It was just about staying patient and not getting frustrated.
"It's safe to say that was the best game we played this year and it's safe to say that was one of the best wins around here at this high school."
In front of a large crowd, St. Charles North (12-8-2) knotted the score at 1 in the 72nd minute after Luis Ramirez's free kick found the head of senior Alex Bergmann on the back post. Bergmann did the rest, re-directing the ball past helpless Larkin goalkeeper Raziel Somarriba (10 saves).
"They kept pressuring the whole second half," said Somarriba, who previously denied several quality attempts. "I knew I couldn't hold them back the whole game."
Four minutes later, Somarriba could only admire another goal by the North Stars after a long throw-in led to another header on the far post. This time, North junior Angelo Catalano was the recipient of some good fortune after finding himself alone in front of a wide-open net after some quick thinking by his teammate.
"The ball bounced around a bit and it came to (Ramirez) and he let the ball run through his legs. I was just right there unmarked," Catalano said. "It looked like an ocean in front of me. I don't think I could have missed it.
"(Larkin) is a fantastic team, everything they do is great. But if they have one weak spot it would be marking the back post runs. We watched film during the week and we thought we could exploit them there and we did."
The loss wasn't sitting well with Larkin coach Ken Hall immediately following the final whistle. Hall, whose team was riding a 10-game unbeaten streak, was not happy that the game was even played amid the poor field conditions.
"St. Charles (North) deserves credit, but it was an absolute joke we had to play on this field," Hall said. "We couldn't run, we couldn't stop. It was just ridiculous. Take nothing away from them, but it was a travesty this game had to be played on this field, an absolute travesty."
Larkin, which won the UEC for the first time and finished the season 20-2, won nine matches by one goal during the regular season and it appeared the same formula for success would hold true again. The Royals needed less than five minutes to produce the game's first goal after senior Raul Sandoval skimmed a short free kick off the head of a St. Charles North defender and into the back of the net for his area-best 22nd goal.
However, the senior-laden Royals would not be allowed to celebrate again despite holding a 12-11 edge in shots on goal. Larkin had several near misses the remainder of the match, including an open header by Sandoval that was corralled by North goalie Zach Hosler in the final seconds.
David Hernandez, Michael Berruquin, Carson McFadden and Mike Gloss also had earlier opportunities turned back by Hosler.
"We changed a little the way we defended," Willson said. "We knew (Sandoval) and (Berruquin) were their target players so we decided to mark man-mark them and follow them around everywhere on the field. Our defense stepped up and did an amazing job on them."
St. Charles North played a man down the final four minutes after Bob Lundeen was shown a red card for taunting following the go-ahead score.
