Lake boys soccer coach Chad Lillich knew the Flyers would have to slow down Oak Harbor's high-scoring forwards, Phil Weirich and Tyler Eoff, to have a chance to beat the Rockets in Wednesday night's Division II district semifinal.

“If we can contain those two kids,” Lillich said, “we'll do all right.”

Weirich and Eoff had combined for 53 goals and 30 assists going into Oak Harbor's game against Lake, but they were no match for the Flyers' defense.

Bryant Philo

Lake took a 2-0 lead into halftime and went on to a 5-0 victory to advance to Saturday's district final at Fremont Ross. The Flyers will face Lexington (11-7-1), which beat Mansfield Madison 4-1 in Wednesday's semifinal at Norwalk.

“We played aggressive,” Lillich said. “We took the wind in the first half, hoping we could jump into a lead and that would make Oak Harbor press more in the second half, which they did.”

The Rockets, who had outscored their opponents by a 93-15 margin this season, finished with a 16-3 record.

Senior midfielder Drew Metz scored three goals to pace the Flyers (16-3). Senior forward Bryant Philo had a goal and three assists, junior midfielder Johnny Eckenrode had a goal and one assist and sophomore goalie Marcus Pierce had nine saves.

Prior to the game, Lillich said he hoped a 4-2 loss to Eastwood right before the start of postseason play would get his team fired up.

“I'd seen Eastwood play a couple times, and the best game that I've seen them play was against us,” Lillich said. “We were up 2-1 at the half, but they did everything right in the second half. I told our guys the same thing happened the year we went to the regional finals, in 2008. That year we were like third of fourth in the SLL when we made that (tournament) run. We had three games this year where we lost focus, and that kind of got us re-focused.”

Eastwood's home win over Lake on Oct. 14 gave the Eagles the Suburban Lakes League title. The Flyers, who have never won an SLL title, finished second.

“If we were going to win it, this was our year,” Lillich said. “We have six seniors (all starters), but we've been down to five because we lost our center midfielder, Kyle Timbrook, to an ACL. He was having a phenomenal season for us (2 goals, 5 assists). He was more of a defensive-minded center midfielder. He did a lot of the dirty work.”

Lillich moved forward Jay Staples to midfield, and the results have been positive.

“He's been phenomenal,” the coach said. “He was one of the big reasons we won the Maumee game. He took away one of their best players and won a lot of balls at midfield. Jay is one of those guys who doesn't show up on the stat sheet, but at the end of the day you know he was there.”

Lake beat Maumee 2-1 in last Saturday's sectional finals. The Flyers opened tourney play with a 5-1 rout of Rossford.

“The game against Maumee was probably the best defensive game we've played all year,” Lillich said. “They had 14 shots, but all from like 20-25 yards out. Nothing really dangerous. This year, we have a lot more senior leadership and they're a lot tighter group. I don't know if the (June 5) tornado had a lot to do with it or not, but there's more of a team atmosphere this year.

“I think we have one of the better offensive teams in this area, some guys who can put it in the back of the net. Our question all season has been defense, plus we have a brand new goalie. Our defense is starting to play real well.”

Philo was recently named the SLL Player of the Year for the second straight year. He has 25 goals and 14 assists.

“We didn't have Drew for four games, so Bryant played all over for us,” Lillich said. “He was up top, at midfield if need be and he also plays defense when called upon. He's gotten better each year. He's quick, has a good first touch, a hard shot and great field vision. He can also play with a mean streak if need be.”

Eckenrode has 15 goals and nine assists, Metz has 14 goals and 19 assists and sophomore forward Austin Hall has 13 goals and four assists. Pierce has 103 saves in goal for the Flyers, who have outscored their opponents by a 74-22 margin with five shutouts.

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