Photo by Stephen Dachman
On a mucky field, the Lakewood boys’ soccer team dug in a little deeper than the host Bruins, and, after falling behind 1-0 in the second half, rallied to win 4-2, with four unanswered goals. The win gives them control of their own destiny; beat Poly on Friday, and they’re in the playoffs as the four-seed. Wilson, on the other hand, now has to beat Millikan on Friday to clinch the two-seed.
The game started off looking like it could develop into a Wilson blowout. The Bruins had their counter working to near perfection—on the shoddy turf, the Lancers would get a bad shot off, to see Wilson immediately turn it around and charge down the field. Everything about the attack was perfect, except the finish. “I thought we were really excellent in the first half,” said Wilson coach Mark Hervin, “that was some of our best stuff all year.” Finally, in the 28th minute, Kobi Johnson made up for an earlier misstep (rocketing a shot high over an open net) by shaking a Lancers defender, losing him in the mud, and putting it on the near post to take a one-nil lead.
“Honestly, I thought once we got the goal we’d kick on and win comfortably,” said Hervin.
Instead, the Bruins failed to put another in before halftime, and Lakewood coach Jim Cross’ Lancers came out on fire, as recent CSU Bakersfield commit Joseph Masumiya scored three in the first fifteen minutes of the second frame—the first was just seconds after the intermission, when he turned and shot from the right elbow of the box, putting it high into the net. The second was a thing of geometric beauty, ricocheting from the left post, to the right post, then back into the net. As a testament to the conditions of the field, the first five of the game’s six goals were scored on one end of the field, and there were defenders laying in the mud on the first three of them.
Michael Lopez got Lakewood’s third score in the 54th minute after a give and go with a teammate gave him an open shot. It was blocked back to him by the Wilson keeper, and Lopez smacked it home on the second try. Jacob Martinez scored their fourth, and Wilson’s Anthony Van Guyse narrowed it to 4-2, with the only goal of the game on the south side of the field, in the 64th minute.
With the loss, Wilson is now in the middle of a difficult week; having tied with Lakewood on Monday, lost to them on Wednesday, they now look towards a Friday showdown at Millikan that they must win to clinch the two-seed, and a likely home game. For Lakewood, it’s the continuation of a great run that started with a 0-0 tie of Jordan on Friday, then a 0-0 tie with Wilson on Monday, before finally grabbing a full two points Wednesday with the win. “The last 240 minutes we’re playing like we’re supposed to,” said Cross, who credits moving Julian Salas from midfield to sweeper as the difference-maker defensively. “Then, this afternoon, we discovered we had an offense.”
It’s been a season of ups and downs for Lakewood, but with the last three results, and the possibility of clinching a playoff berth Friday with a win over Poly, things are definitely looking up.