Lake's girls’ soccer team was going for the inaugural Northern Buckeye Conference championship on Oct. 6 at Otsego.

The host Knights never had a chance.

First-year coach Kevin Lanning's Flyers rolled over Otsego 8-0 to claim the NBC championship outright. It was their fourth straight league title.

“It was just business as usual for us,” Lanning said. “We set that goal early on to win the league. The girls have played well all season and they deserved the title. Their hard work has shown. The girls won the title, and that's expected at Lake. We put our heads down and keep working and we know we can get better each practice and each game.”

Lake's NBC championship team. (Photo courtesy of Innovations Potrait Studio)

Lanning said the Flyers and their supporters “wouldn't have expected anything less” than a title this season. Lake won the last three titles in the Suburban Lakes League, which folded at the end of the 2010-11 school year.

“It's a given that we have to do well year in and year out,” Lanning said. “Part of that is winning the title and part of that is getting deep in the playoffs. The expectations are high, but the girls have those expectations for themselves and they are very realistic expectations.”

Lake (11-3-1) ended the regular season on Thursday at Genoa, which the Flyers beat 2-0 on Sept. 17. Lake's losses have come against St. Ursula Academy, Archbold, and Anthony Wayne.

The Flyers, who also tied Eastwood 2-2, have outscored their first 15 opponents by a 76-20 margin. Junior forward Shelby Antonacci leads Lake with 22 goals and eight assists, and junior forward Kayla Encalado has 22 goals and three assists.

Lanning stressed that the Flyers have gotten a team effort all season, and each player understands her role.

“We have the mentality on the team now where everyone can score, everyone can contribute,” the coach said. “We don't want to just rely on one or two players to get the job done. As the season has gone on and the girls have found their position on the team, they've realized we're not just one dimensional.

“Almost everyone on the team has gotten into the stat book in one way or another. That's just the kids getting some self-confidence and knowing it's OK to be creative and bold and take responsibility for themselves on the field.”

Sophomore forward Kylie Hoffman has six goals and seven assists, sophomore forward Tabitha Aikman has six goals and one assist, freshman center midfielder Catie Phalen and freshman outside midfielder Allison Perry have five goals apiece, and Jordyn Taylor has nine assists and two goals.

Junior goalie Ashley Timmons has 65 saves.

“Looking back,” Lanning said, “I can accept the way the season has gone, but I don't want to be content and I don't want the players to be content. We want to win every game. We've had a few hiccups, but we're peaking at the right time here. We're a much better team than we were in early August and in the games where we haven't had a good result.”

Lake hosts the Division II sectional tournament and will play either Maumee (14-1-1) or Rossford (1-10) on Oct. 19. The Flyers defeated Rossford twice this season, by 13-0 and 10-0 margins.

Maumee has outscored its opponents 65-9 this season. Expecting to face Maumee, the Lake girls scouted two Maumee games last week — the Panthers’ 3-0 victory over Findlay on Monday and 1-0 victory over Anthony Wayne Wednesday at Kazmaier Stadium. Lanning believes his team is ready to take on the No. 10 ranked Panthers, which only has a 3-0 loss to Perrysburg blotting its schedule.

“We expect to get out of our region,” Lanning said. “We're hitting our stride right now, so we definitely are capable of doing that. We need to continue to play 80 minutes of soccer. When we play 80 minutes, we're a very good team. We want to get out of the district and see what we can do at regionals. We go into every game expecting to win, and it only takes one little break for or against us to decide the game.”

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed