By: Joe Blystone
(August 19, 2023) METAMORA – Last season, Lake, who was a Division II district qualifier, scored a one goal win over Evergreen.
This season the Vikings got a little retribution as Riley Dunbar scored 13 minutes into the game, and the Vikes made that goal stand up in a 1-0 victory. Evergreen is now 2-0 on the season.
After a stale first 12 minutes, Tyson Woodring went over the top with a pass to Dunbar racing down the left side.
The 6’5 senior then headed the sphere to himself over a Lake defender then beat Mitchell Maguire on the topside with 26:39 to go in the first.
“It was a tale of two halves of the first half,” Viking coach Dave Skoczyn explained. “We didn’t start out well but the second half of the first half was really good, passed the ball well and controlled the pace.”
The Vikings had plenty of chances to add on, but Maguire stopped Woodring twice, one on a free kick after Nick Rosinski was taken down by the goalie in a collision when the Viking senior just missed right.
Rosinski had another chance on a corner and thought he had scored but it was determined that Figgy Garcia has right foot scooped the ball out of the net before it crossed the line.
Alex Mossing had six saves for Evergreen, making his two most difficult early in the second half corralling Brady Hayward’s free kick eight minutes in, then sprawling to grab a Gael Rios shot heading into the right side.
“We just kind of hung around in the second half,” Skoczyn said. “We just couldn’t finish and sometimes it gets in your head, and you start to press.”
“With this being the first home game, I think that happened a bit. We did move forward in the second half, but the final product just wasn’t there yet. At the end of the day, we have to finish our chances.”
“As far as Alex he has to be in the right place at the right time and that’s what he did. He was never out of place.”
Lake got a couple of late rushes but Lanegan Smallman fleeced Lake attackers both times and cleared to keep the Flyers off the board.
All told, Evergreen took 20 attempts at the net while Lake had 11.
Evergreen goes on the road for three straight games at Maumee Tuesday night, Toledo Christian on Thursday and Liberty Benton next Saturday.
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com