Oakland Christian lackadaisical in ousting Everest Collegiate
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
AUBURN HILLS — Caleb Combs had a message to his Auburn Hills Oakland Christian boys soccer team Tuesday evening, warning his team of some potential stormy waters coming up in the postseason.
“If we play the way we did tonight, we could lose to (Rochester Hills) Lutheran Northwest,” beamed Combs, unhappy with his team’s performance in Tuesday’s district opener. “We need to play better.”
Sixth-ranked Oakland Christian played out a lackadaisical 4-0 shutout of visiting Clarkston Everest Collegiate-Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes Unified in a Division 4 boys soccer pre-district. The Lancers (15-4-1) will face upstart Lutheran Northwest at 4 p.m. Thursday in the district semifinals, but that concerns Combs.
“They aren’t bad a t all. We beat them twice in the regular season, but we only beat them 2-1 last week,” said Combs, who has lost two senior starters to injuries for the season. “In this game, for whatever the reason, we were not playing nearly what we are capable of.”
The Lancers came out and scored a goal in the sixth minute and despite an 11-0 shots edge in the first half, only led 2-0 at the break. Oakland Christian made it 3-0 before the Mountaineers even attempted a shot.
Dominating play from the opening kickoff, junior Chris Polite staked the Lancers to a 1-0 lead on the team’s second shot, finishing off a slotted pass from Marco Garcia just 5:42 into the game. The Lancers did not score again until there were 15 seconds left in the half, this time sophomore Daniel Smith converting a breakaway feed from senior Spencer Hodges.
It took Oakland Christian only 9:20 into the second half to build a three-goal cushion, when senior Clifford Baxter took a short touch from Hodges and tapped home a close-range shot. Smith capped the scoring with 16:38 left when he picked off a clearing attempt and fired home a shot from 10 yards out.
“Their goalie played really well. He did a nice job coming out playing the angles,” said Combs. “I thought he kept them in the game for a while. We had a lot of shots and crosses but we had a hard time scoring.”
Everest Collegiate, which only dressed 13 players, had its most dangerous chance with 15:25 left, when a bending cross clanked off the outside of the goal post. The Mountaineers (4-8-3) only had one other quality scoring chance in the game.
Oakland Christian outshot Everest Collegiate 25-3, including 12-1 with shots directly on frame. Senior Luke Combs notched his eighth shutout on just one save for the Lancers.
“We only have 13 players, but I’ll take those 13 kids over anybody,” said first-year Everest collegiate coach John Haezebrouck. “Only having 13 players is not an excuse. They play hard and never give up.
“We had a game plan and we tried to attack them, but it didn’t happen,” added Haezebrouck. “We just kept trying to play our game. We just lost to a deep, talented team.”
Steven Scott finished with eight saves in a losing effort for Everest Collegiate.
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Category: Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, Clarkston Everest Catholic, High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes
