BOYS SOCCER: Lake Orion upsets shorthanded Rochester
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BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
LAKE ORION — In the Star Wars trilogy, the famed Rebel Alliance had to search to find kinks in the Imperial Empire Starfleet’s armour in order to defeat evil. Although the odds were stacked against them, they eventually found ways to exploit their enemies.
Lake Orion had to do something similar on the soccer pitch Monday night against OAA Red Division foe Rochester.
The Dragons used their quickness up top and took advantage of short-handed Rochester’s injury woes to oust the Falcons, 4-1, in a Division 1 boys soccer district opener.
Rochester was missing four starters, had two other players out for disciplinary reasons and had to play a third-string goaltender. Lake Orion used all of that to its advantage despite being outplayed and outshot during the contest.
“We’re fairly athletic,” offered Lake Orion head coach Matt Paukovits. “We’ve been sound defensively all year. With our ability to play into back lines and using some athleticism up front, that leads to some counter attacks for us.”
Three of Lake Orion’s four goals came on counterattacks while the fourth came off a restart.
Despite Lake Oroin winning by three goals, it was Rochester that was the aggressor for most of the night, as the Falcons controlled play for 80 percent of the game, but struggled in the offensive third of the field.
Lake Orion (6-6-7) did not even attempt a single shot during the first 22 minutes of play, but drew first blood on its first shot attempt. Jason Inglis chased down a long through ball from Bradley Eick and deposited the breakaway feed into the net with 17:51 left in the first half.
The Dragons attempted only one other shot in the first half and settled for a 1-0 halftime advantage.
Rochester (9-5-3) outshot Lake Orion by a 13-10 margin, including 9-7 with shots directly on frame, and held a 7-2 edge on cornerkicks, but saw their season come to an abrupt end. The Falcons dropped three of their final four matches after finally regaining most of its lineup with two weeks to go in the season, only to see a rash of injuries derail their hopes of a postseason run.
Top player Spiro Pilakos only played four minutes due to a high ankle sprain, starting goaltender Mike Murri and backup keeper Ali Alavi both suffered season-ending injuries the past two weeks, starting sweeper Tyler Schedlbauer was on the sidelines with a broken ankle, while several other Falcons were out due to injuries or team issues.
Meanwhile, Lake Orion upped its lead to 2-0 with 20:52 to play. Following a foul 22 yards out in front of the goal, Eick laced a shot that sailed through traffic and into the far corner of the goal, which proved to be the game-winner.
Rochester did rally to cut the deficit down to 2-1 when Thomas Forde caught Orion goalkeeper Dylan Myers napping and lofted in a shot from 40 yards out with 12:31 left in the contest. Evan Asuncion drew the assist.
Instead of giving up the momentum, Lake Orion rallied with two late courterattack goals to cap the upset. Eick’s long pass was retrieved by Richard Doll, who attempted two shots before knocking in a rebound with 9:48 remaining in the game.
With Rochester sending additional attackers up front, Eick capped the scoring with another breakaway goal, this time coming off an Inglis pass with 4:13 to play.
“Coach told us what their situation was, so we had to shoot more (in the second half),” said Eick.
For senior-laden Rochester, another postseason exit ended a promising season which at one time featured a five-game win streak
“I thought we possessed the ball really, really well,” sighed Rochester coach Chris Purgatori. “We were just one piece away from taking control of this game, but credit to Lake Orion. They came out strong. They knew exactly what to do to take us out of our game.”
Myers finished with eight saves for Lake Orion, while Gerald Niester recorded three saves for Rochester.
Lake Orion advances to Wednesday’s district semifinals, where the Dragons will face rival Oxford (13-2-1) at 5 p.m. at Utica Swinehart Stadium.
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FOR MORE SOCCER COVERAGE: http://northoaklandsports.com/?s=soccer&x=0&y=0
Have photos or video of this event that you wish to share? E-mail pertinent information to www.northoaklandsports.com Senior Editor Dan Stickradt at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com or e-mail results@northoaklandsports.com
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