ELYRIA, Ohio – Lakeland men's soccer broke open a game that was tied at halftime with three goals in the latter half to secure a 4-2 victory Wednesday afternoon against Lorain County Community College.
With the win, the Lakers improve to 3-3-2 overall and stay at 1-1-1 in Region XII play.
Four different players scored for Lakeland in the win. Hans-Conny Chery (Toronto, Ontario), Kobie Gooding-Meade (Toronto, Ontario), Josue Gomez-Villegas (Perry) and Williams Batres (Cleveland) each scored for the Lakers. Batres added two assists while Chery added an assist.
Jacob Pereira Granato (Toronto, Ontario) picked up the victory in goal to improve to 2-2-2 as a keeper while collecting 12 saves in the win.
Lorain actually struck first in the 17th minute to take a 1-0 lead but Chery leveled the game 13 minutes later after taking a pass from Batres to score in the 30th minute to tie the game at 1-1.
Lakeland scored three consecutive goals in the second half to permanently swing the momentum in its favor as Gooding-Meade opened the second half scoring with a goal off of a free kick in the 53rd minute for a 2-1 lead. Gooding-Meade's goal was his seventh goal in eight games this season.
Gomez-Villegas increased the lead in the 73rd minute after receiving a pass from Batres and burying the third goal for the Lakers for a 3-1 advantage. Batres decided to score the final goal for Lakeland in the 76th minute after received an assist from Chery for a 4-1 lead. Batres leads the team with six assists in eight games.
Lorain added a goal in the 88th minute but Lakeland still held on for the two-goal victory.
Lakeland will get back into Region XII play with a match against Lake Michigan College on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 3 p.m. Lake Michigan is 0-5 in Region XII play so far.
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.