The Lakeland men's soccer team beat Cuyahoga CC 4-2 tonight to complete the regular season sweep. With the win, the Lakers improve to 8-1 and 6-1 in conference play. This was a back and forth game through most of the first half. Lakeland's Tom Worm and Shakeele Brown both netted goals to stake the Lakers to a 2-0 lead through the first 37 minutes of play. The Triceratops jumped back into the game with a goal of their own with 3 minutes to play in the half. Cuyahoga tied it up two minutes into the second half when they scored on a long volley with Lakeland's keeper out of the net. After that, Lakeland started to control the play a bit more and Jayden Boateng converted the eventual game winner on a pass from Binyam Tekae. Cuyahoga then picked up their pace and pressured the Lakers for the next 10 minutes of play missing a few opportunities wide. The backbreaking goal was scored by Kyle Brooks at about the 70 minute mark as he challenged the Cuyahoga keeper on a long service. In doing so he just beat the keeper to the ball and used his head to get it by him. Brooks then followed it up and swiftly put the ball in and essentially ended the game. On the day, Lakeland outshot Cuyahoga 20-9 and led in corners 6-4.
Kettani Quotes: "It was not one of our better efforts of the year, but we were still able to come away with the victory. It's difficult to beat a quality opponent like Cuyahoga twice in a year – especially with them being a cross-town rival. We need to learn from this that we have to play every game to our full potential and we need to compete for 90 minutes. I like our team and we will continue to improve."
Next Up: This is a big weekend for the Lakers as they play host to league foe Lake Michigan College on Saturday at 1pm. Lakeland will then host league rival Muskegon Community College on Sunday at noon. Muskegon handed Lakeland a 2-1 loss, their only of the season, in an earlier match up at Muskegon. Both games will be played at Lost Nation Sports in Willoughby. Admission is free.
