Lakewood beats South Whidbey in 2OT

Soccer

By Mike Cane

Herald Writer

LAKEWOOD – The Lakewood Cougars had no trouble generating motivation for their highly anticipated rematch against the South Whidbey Falcons.

“Today’s game was a payback for last time,” Vaughn Vandelac, Lakewood High’s head boys soccer coach, said Thursday night after his team upended South Whidbey 2-1 in double overtime.

Junior Andrew Escalante scored the winning goal on an assist from senior Serjay Shevchuk with one minute, 25 seconds remaining in the second extra session. Escalante’s fourth goal of the season capped the Cougars’ Cascade Conference victory at Lakewood High and helped them atone for a 3-1 loss at South Whidbey on April 4.

“We knew that it was going to be a physical game,” said Vandelac, whose team ended the first half with a 1-0 lead – just like last time – before letting South Whidbey tie it up.

But Lakewood (5-1-0 in conference, 10-2-0 overall) hung tough and matched South Whidbey’s intensity. The first-place Cougars, who out-shot South Whidbey 22-9 in regulation, remain in control of the race for a conference championship and seem to be improving as the postseason nears.

“This is a good team. They’re gonna go a long way in (the Class 2A playoffs),” South Whidbey head coach Joel Gerlach said of Lakewood. South Whidbey is a 3A school that competes in the mostly 2A Cascade Conference.

One big reason for Lakewood’s success is Escalante, who ignited the Cougars’ first scoring play by keeping the ball alive in the right corner. He eluded a defender, dribbled toward the net and looped a pass to teammate Evander Ochoa, who waited near the net.

South Whidbey’s keeper, Alex McGlenn, leaped and partially deflected the ball. But Ochoa, a freshman, stayed focused and headed the ball into an open net. Ochoa’s second goal of the season gave Lakewood a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.

“For a freshman, he did it exactly (right),” Escalante said.

Later, Escalante’s game-winner came on a crisp pass-and-shoot play from about 25 yards out. In a smooth, controlled motion he took Shevchuk’s centering pass and blasted the ball with his left foot into the left corner of the net.

“He’s been doing great,” Vandelac said of Escalante, who played on the junior varsity team last season and contributes on offense and defense. “He’s got the speed … and he’s versatile. He always seems to be in the right place.” South Whidbey (3-2-1, 6-3-2) tied it at 1-1 with about seven minutes remaining in regulation when Kyper Koska scored off Luciano Mauro’s corner kick.

But Lakewood refused to crumble and Escalante’s goal finished a physical, back-and-forth battle.

“It feels great,” Escalante said, “especially because we don’t (play South Whidbey) in league again.” Just minutes before Lakewood’s first goal, South Whidbey narrowly missed scoring when Mauro slammed a low, hard kick off the left post. Francesco Ward collected the rebound and ripped another shot, but Lakewood’s keeper dove and blocked the kick wide left.

“I thought my guys played (great) the last 60 minutes of the game,” South Whidbey’s Gerlach said.

Lakewood had an ideal chance to regain the lead on a free kick deep inside the penalty box with less than two minutes to go in the second half. But South Whidbey’s defensive wall blocked the shot and the game went to overtime.

At Lakewood H.S.

Goals-South Whidbey: Koska. Lakewood: Ochoa, Escalante. Assists-South Whidbey: Gerlach, Mauro. Lakewood: Escalante, Shevchuk. Goalkeepers-South Whidbey: McGlenn. Lakewood: Scott. Records-South Whidbey 3-2-1 in division, 6-3-2 overall. Lakewood 5-1-0, 10-2-0.

Archbishop Murphy 4, Granite Falls 0: At Everett, Archbishop Murphy goalkeeper Jeff Renslo had his fourth shutout of the year and senior midfielder Riley Cartwright chipped in two goals and assisted on another as the host Wildcats won their third Cascade Conference game of the year.

At Archbishop Murphy H.S.

Goals-Archbishop Murphy: Ryan, Cartwright 2, O’Connell. Assists- Archbishop Murphy: Cartwright, Mayerchak 2, Ryan. Goalkeepers- Archbishop Murphy: Renslo. Granite Falls: Turner. Records- Granite Falls 1-6-0 in league, 4-8-0 overall. Archbishop Murphy 3-2-1, 7-2-1.

Cedarcrest 2, Sultan 1: At Sultan, R.J. Sorenson scored a goal for Cedarcrest and the Red Wolves defeated Sultan in the Cascade Conference game. The Turks were dealt a huge blow when leading scorer A.J. Gonzales dislocated his elbow in the first half. Gonzales has scored eight goals for the Turks.

At Sultan H.S.

Goals-Cedarcrest: Sorenson, own goal. Sultan: Olson. Assists-Cedarcrest: Arechiga. Goalkeepers-Cedarcrest: Quayle. Sultan: Olaso. Records-Cedarcrest 2-3-0 in league, 2-7-1 overall. Sultan 3-3, 3-4-2.