Lakewood crashes back down to earth

Published 11:13 pm Tuesday, May 13, 2008

LAKEWOOD — The Lakewood High School boys soccer team was riding the crest of the highest of highs, having defied the odds to claim the District 1 championship.

Unfortunately for the Cougars that high proved short-lived.

Lakewood was unable to hold an early lead, and the Cougars’ season came to an end Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to the Mark Morris Monarchs in the first round of the class 2A state playoffs.

“I don’t think we played as well as we did against Cedarcrest (in Saturday’s district title game) the other day,” Lakewood coach Vaughn Vandelac said. “But we had our chances, and they had theirs. Unfortunately, they put theirs in and we didn’t.”

Mark Morris goals from Christopher Melink and Thomas Suek canceled out an early strike from Lakewood’s Evander Ochoa.

As a result the Monarchs (11-6-2), the No. 1 seed from District 3, denied Lakewood’s chance at another showdown against Cedarcrest in the quarterfinals.

“We played well,” said Mark Morris coach Harold West, who noted his team has made a nerve-wracking habit of coming from behind this season. “Lakewood was impressive. We have not seen that well of a put together team this year, I don’t believe, and we were lucky to come away with a win.”

Lakewood finished its season 12-4.

Lakewood came into the state playoffs brimming with confidence. The Cougars were coming off their best performance of the season, a 1-0 upset victory over previously unbeaten Cedarcrest — a team Lakewood lost 7-0 to once during the regular season — in the District 1 title game.

And when Ochoa gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the game it appeared that momentum had carried over to state.

However, the Cougars were unable to sustain the high level of play exhibited against Cedarcrest. Mark Morris became the aggressor the moment Lakewood scored, finding the net twice in an eight-minute period late in the first half, and the Cougars never found a rhythm to their game.

“We definitely had a lot more intensity against Cedarcrest,” Vandelac said. “I know we wanted to play hard today and we really wanted to win because we had a huge crowd. But I have to hand it to Mark Morris, they came out ready to play.”

Once in the lead, Lakewood began to play conservatively and the Monarchs took advantage.

First, in the 21st minute, a corner kick eluded Lakewood goalkeeper Peter Karrenberg and rolled invitingly along the goal line. The Cougar defense tried to clear the ball off the line, but the clearance slammed right off a sliding Melink and into the goal to tie it up.

In the 28th minute, the Monarchs struck again. Corey Johnson threaded a perfect through ball into the path of Thomas Suek racing in from midfield. Suek met the pass with a shot he slotted into the left corner to make it 2-1.

“We thought maybe we could hold the lead all the way to the end,” said senior defender and co-captain Eric Hawks. “But we didn’t pressure hard enough. We didn’t step on it like we did against Cedarcrest. We didn’t have that same mentality.”

At Lakewood High School

Goals—Mark Morris: Melink, T.Suek. Lakewood: E.Ochoa. Assists—Mark Morris: Johnson. Goalkeepers—Mark Morris: J. Suek. Lakewood: Karrenberg. Records—Mark Morris 11-6-2. Lakewood 12-4.