Right now, it is hard to stop the Silver Lake High boys’ soccer team.
Last Saturday night, the Lakers were not able to keep their winning streak going, but they improved their unbeaten streak to eight games when they took on the Whitman-Hanson Panthers at home. The game was tightly contested for its majority and by the end of it, both teams got a point in the standings in the 2-2 tie. The tie put the Lakers at 11-2-1 on the season.
The first half of the game was rather unproductive, although both teams played quality defense, neither team scoring until the second half.
Whitman-Hanson ended up scoring the first goal of the game; 11 minutes into the second half, they got the ball in the net off a header from the right side of the field. It would not take the Lakers much time to respond.
Just two minutes later, Casey Grindle kicked in a goal to tie the game at one apiece and on the Panthers’ next possession, Justin Keating made a strong one-handed save to preserve the tie.
In the 65th minute of the game, the Panthers were able to regain the lead. The Lakers had a defensive lapse–and it resulted in a breakaway and a goal for their opponent.
Despite falling behind, the Lakers would not go down without a fight. With 6:30 left in the game, Alex Lloyd scored the game-tying goal to prevent the Lakers from receiving their third loss of the season. Colin Caniff had the assist on the score.
With three minutes left, it appeared as though the Lakers had taken the lead on a score off of the head, but it did not count due to an offsides call.
The Lakers’ next game is this Saturday, Oct. 21 on the road against Weymouth, 6:30 p.m. start time.