LCA Soccer: Cougars Stay Cool In Win At Valley
AKRON —With temperatures reaching into the 90s and facing deficits early in both halves, the Cougars remained cool.
It’s hard enough to battle back in the sweltering conditions, but with only 14 players available, Lakeland Christian Academy’s come-from-behind victory at Tippecanoe Valley Thursday was even more impressive.
Sophomore Parker Stewart completed a hat trick in the 76th minute to propel Lakeland to a 3-2 victory over the host Vikings on senior night in Akron.
“I think it shows that we have a lot of character, and we have a lot of heart,” said Lakeland coach Vincent Sell of the come-from-behind win. “Heart is one of those things that you can never write off of a scoreboard. You can’t really say that this team has a lot of heart; this team doesn’t. It’s something that lies just beneath the surface, and it shows up or doesn’t sometimes.”
“This is my third shirt today,” joked Valley coach Mark Gordon in the stifling heat and humidity. “And I give them a lot of credit. They came with 14 players today. I had 17.”
Sell credited his team’s senior leadership for the gutsy victory, but it was a sophomore who made the scoresheet three times for the Cougars.
Valley jumped out to an early lead when Arturo Dominguez found the back of the net in the sixth minute, but it didn’t take long for Stewart to score the equalizer. Working in behind the defense, Vikings starting keeper Fabian Mar knocked down a hard shot from point blank range by Stewart — one of 10 saves by the senior and 12 total by Valley keepers at the game — but the Valley defense couldn’t clear the ball out of the box and Stewart knocked in the clean-up in the 18th minute to knot the score at 1-1.
“One of the things that we talk about in practice a lot of times is when we lose the ball is try to gain it right back right away. That’s when it’s the most valuable because that’s when we’re going to be up front in the other team’s space, and we’re also getting after the ball in a place that we’re going to go attack right away,” Sell said.
The score remained knotted at 1-1 through the remainder of the first half, and it didn’t take long for Valley to grab the advantage once more in the second half.
After sitting out the first half, an ailing Jakob Jones found his way into the Lakeland box and was fouled by Cougar defender Luke Miller. Xabier Armentia put away the ensuing penalty kick, giving the home team a 2-1 lead in the 43rd minute.
But it took less than three minutes for Lakeland and Stewart to respond on a counter when Valley’s Alan Jimenez had the ball stolen in a 2-v-1 with Stewart and McCoomb, and Stewart sent a chip shot into the near upper V to tie the score again in the 46th minute.
“We haven’t scored a lot of goals this year to begin with, and so when you do score to begin with, that’s good. I don’t know what goes through their minds sometimes,” said Gordon.
“You saw today where even one of the senior captains down there at the end gave up a ball and gave up a goal like that. He knows better, but he’s trying to be somebody, to show that he can play with these people, and it ended up a silly mistake.”
The score stayed knotted until late, but, after some close calls on both sides, Stewart finished his hat trick when he took the ball the length of the field on a long counter and calmly rolled it into the net with Mar scrambling back to his line in the 76th minute.
LCA keeper Remington Swanson made his fifth and final save on a high, arching shot from way out with just 1:19 left to play, and the Cougars moved to 6-8 on the year.
For Valley, which slipped to 1-11, it marked the fourth straight close call by the Vikings, which has been in each of its last four games but still fallen short, including a 3-1 loss to Whitko Monday.
“Today would’ve been a nice day for a tie. A tie would’ve been a win in my book,” Gordon said.
“This was great for them to come out here, score that goal and be in this game and have it that” close to the end. It really was. I just wish they wouldn’t have given up that third goal, and we could’ve gotten out of here with a tie.”