BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – Lakeland men's soccer could have asked for a better start as it began the first half scoring the first five goals of the game on its way to an 8-3 victory over Lake Michigan College to begin the season Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Lakers begin the season with a 1-0 record overall and in Region XII play.
Kobie Gooding-Meade picked up a hat trick in his first-ever game for the Lakers with all three goals coming in the first half. Ugochukwu MacAustin Nneji scored a pair of goals while Uri-Malcolm Young, Josue Gomez-Villegas and Williams Batres each scored a goal in the win. Batres assisted on four goals while Gomez-Villegas added another assist.
The scoring started for Lakeland in the 13th minute when the Lakers were awarded a penalty kick and Young buried it into the net for a 1-0 lead. Twelve minutes later, Batres scored a goal after an assist from Gomez-Villegas for a 2-0 lead.
In the 28th minute, Nneji scored his first with an assist from Batres for a 3-0 lead. Gooding-Meade scored back-to-back goals for Lakeland to take a 5-0 lead in the 38th minute. Lake Michigan added its first goal a minute later but Gooding-Meade answered back with a goal in the 43rd minute for a 6-1 lead. Lake Michigan added a goal before halftime to make the score 6-2.
With a four-goal lead at halftime, Lakeland cruised to victory but did get an extra goal from Nneji and Gomez-Villegas to secure the 8-3 victory.
Lakeland will look to complete a 2-0 Michigan road trip with a game Sunday, Aug. 26 against Muskegon Community College at 1 p.m.
For more information about Lakeland athletics, visit www.athletics.lakelandcc.edu.
About Lakeland Community College
Founded in 1967, Lakeland Community College was the first college in Ohio created by a vote of the people. True to our mission, Lakeland provides quality learning opportunities to meet the social and economic needs of the community.
Offering day, evening, weekend and online classes, the college serves more than 10,800 credit and 2,800 noncredit students (2016). For more information about the College, visit www.lakelandcc.edu.