Lancers kick down the door in second half vs. Freeport

By Darryl Mellema

After 40 minutes in which Lake Park looked on course for match full of domination but lacking in goals – the Lancers found their stride.

By the time the hosts were finished with their 3-0 victory over the Pretzels, the offense looked much more fluid and the victory had assumed the term “comprehensive.”

But it took into that second half to turn things around. The term “shots on goal” is sometimes relative – because not all shots that head toward the goal have a realistic chance of scoring. But of the 16 efforts aimed at Freeport's goal frame – a large number were chances that needed only a better final touch to end in the back of the net.

Further attacks wilted for lack of better approach play. In that opening half, when a first-time cross seemed a good option, the Lancers held onto the ball and when a quick passing move seemed best, the ball was served first-time with a cross. In short, the decisions weren't necessarily wrong, they just weren't working.

So what changed?

“We seemed to talk a little more as the game went on,” Lake Park senior midfielder Cameron Siegle said. “We got the ball in the middle and we could turn and our other players could also turn and tell us whether to play it one-time or outside or in the middle or to take it to the line.”

The 1-0 lead was more important than it might have been for some teams because the Lancers (7-4-1) have struggled to score in recent games – a 5-goal outburst against South Elgin aside.

“Once we get that first goal, we keep going and don't stop,” Siegle said. “We've had some struggles. Today, we played really well both halves. We just needed to get that one goal, and the rest of the match was ours.”

Whether or not Freeport (3-3-1) wanted to play with six or seven players in defense was a moot point because Lake Park's attack flattened the Pretzels' formation and pushed midfielders back into the back line.

“They had a lot of guys back, but I felt we still had a lot of opportunities,” Lake Park coach Norm Hillner said. “We've had some games where we seem to get inside the 6 (yard box) and we can't score, we don't put away the balls that we should.”

And with their new-found application in the second half, the goals began to flow. First came a Joe Passarelli header from a Tim Adelman corner kick that caused all sorts of problems in the Freeport penalty area. That goal came 11 minutes into the second half.

The Lancers struck again 10 minutes later when the midfield switched the point of attack constantly before Adelman sent the ball to Mike Catalano, who scored.

The final goal came with a quarter-hour to play when Nick Zanghi flicked a right wing corner kick into the net.

“We've played well all year,” Hillner said. “We've had some injuries and some breaks. But we've just got to keep getting better every day now. There will be some day when we finish our opportunities and we'll score 10 of them.”