Lakeside Run Continues With 5-0 Win Over Brunswick To Open GHSA Soccer Playoffs
On Friday, 2021 semifinalist, the Lakeside Vikings boys soccer team, hosted the Brunswick Pirates in an opening round match of the Georgia High School Association Class 6A boys soccer state championship tournament. The Vikings, coming in as the No. 1 seed out of their region, have played well all throughout the regular season as they came in at 15-0-1, allowing a total of seven goals and holding 10 of their opponents scoreless. Meanwhile the Pirates had an up and down year, finishing the regular season at 11-7 that included back to back losses to close out the season.
Once underway, the game was controlled offensively by the Vikings throughout the contest, and that was largely in part due to the defensive strategy the Pirates played with, in which the elected not to press the Vikings most of the night. It was a strategy that worked well most of the first half, despite Lakeside finishing the half with 10 shots on goal and getting the touches they wanted, however a late Brunswick penalty in the box with less than a minute to go in the half, allowed the Vikings to score first as Brayan Zetina connected on the penalty kick giving Lakeside a 1-0 lead.
“They were a well coached team. They were trying to keep the score zero, zero, take it as long as they could, but the trick was getting that first goal and pulling them out. Once we pulled them out, we went back to our normal style of possession and we moved the ball around very well,” Lakeside head coach, Merck Smith, said following their win on Friday. In the second half, the Pirates continued to be loose would the pressing of Lakeside, but the Vikings would take advantage of the looks they would get as they would score four more goals in the second half to pick up the 5-0 win.
“We expected them to play a low pressure, hold back, and we worked on that this week and it is very tough to break it down. The other team’s goals is to try not to get up the field but to keep the ball out of their net,” Smith added. He would go on to credit Brunswick for a good plan that they were able to execute early on in the match. “But eventually, we broke through it and allowed us to play our game,” Smith said. In the win, the Vikings would get two goals from Zetina, while Mauricio Garcia, Michael Valente and Laurence Humphries would each have one goal apiece. With the win, the Vikings will move on to the second round where they will face Kennesaw Mountain.
