BOYS’ SOCCER

The winless streak is finally over the for Laker boys.

The Lakers finally snapped their 30-game losing streak, beating school rival Poland at Lake Region this past Saturday morning.

With a slight rain falling, the Lakers played with great intensity and skill, moving the ball well against the Knights in the first half.

“The Knights’ goalie did a great job of keeping us at bay. Our offense put on one of its best displays this year,” Laker Coach Mike Chaine said.

The pressure finally paid off as the Lakers were able to convert as junior captain Alex Langadas redirected a kick from senior Magnus Holms past the Knights’ goalie. The Lakers and Knights matched up evenly for the remainder of the first half with both sides having several solid scoring opportunities.

“The start of the second half had both teams continuing to battle back and forth, but as I coached, I noticed our skill level had dropped slightly and we began to kick and chase the ball more than control it,” Coach Chaine said.

This dropoff opened the door to several Poland scoring opportunities. Midway through the half, the Knights finally broke through to tie the game.

“Our defense played incredibly well throughout the game, but in a moment of confusion, we left an unguarded attacker in front of the goal and he was able to place a great shot to the upper right hand corner of the goal, well out of the reach of our senior captain goalie Michael Rust, tying the game at 1-1.”

The Lakers immediately went back on the attack, putting constant pressure on the Knights’ goalie. Once again the pressure paid off, while warding off an attack from Langadas, one of the Knight defenders unintentionally tripped him in the goal box resulting in a Lake Region penalty kick. Senior Magnus Holms placed a shot in the bottom right hand corner of the goal for an apparent score. The goal, unfortunately, was called back for movement before the kick and a re-kick was ordered. Holms kept his composure and placed an even better shot into the net, putting the Lakers up 2-1.

The Lakers played tough until the last whistle and ended a 30-game futility streak.

Last Tuesday against Freeport, the Lakers dropped a 2-1 decision to the Falcons.

Langadas gave the Lakers the early lead, capitalizing on a loose ball in front of Freeport’s goal.

Five minutes later, Freeport was able to split the defense and tie the game 1-1. Within minutes of that goal, another fast break attack opportunity for Freeport resulted in a penalty kick, which the Falcons capitalized and enabled them to sneak away with the win.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Lake Region 3, Poland 1. Sophomore Kristen Huntress netted two goals to lead Lake Region to a 3-1 victory at Poland Saturday.

Huntress opened the scoring at 6:41 with an unassisted tally. Poland tied the game at 2:31 of the first as Brooke Yorkey converted a rebound.

At 34:20 of the second half, Lauren Jakobs put the Lakers ahead for good, scoring from a tough angle to the keeper’s left. Huntress tacked on an insurance goal with a penalty kick at the 17:43 mark.

Haley Whitworth made seven saves for Poland. Devin Langadas denied a penalty shot opportunity by the Knights and made four saves for the Lakers’ victory.

CROSS COUNTRY

The good news, the Lakers lined up five girls to run in the four-school meet at Poland last week. The bad news, the Lakers' top runner — Audrey Blais — was out sick, and two new runners failed to finish the event, leaving the team with just three crossing the end line.

Addie Blais earned sixth place overall with a time of 22:40 (winning time was 21:28). Chandler True worked out just two days after returning from a leg injury to place 24th in 28:42. Christine Morin had a good run, placing 34th in 32:11. Making their initial appearances of the season were Lisa Bergston and Destiny MacDougall, but each failed to complete the 3.1-mile run.

On the boys’ side, Nick Scarlett was the lone Laker in the field of 47, finishing in 21:43 to place 24th overall.

“Nick is doing a great job in cross-country considering he is also playing golf this season,” Coach Dan Dors said. “Great kid to work with.”

Next: The Lakers travel to Kittery this Friday to compete against Traip Academy, Falmouth, Wells and York. Boys open at 4 p.m. followed by the girls at 4:30 p.m.

VARSITY GOLF

Lakers 4.5, Fryeburg 2.5. The Lakers ended Fryeburg’s run at an undefeated regular season with a victory at the Highlands.

The Lakers chalked up a 7-4 record, while the Raiders closed out at 10-1.

Ryan Walker beat FA’s Jordan Lowe 39-45.

Ryan Hodgson halved FA’s Mike Davis with 55s.

Evan Sanborn (49) beat FA’s Trevor Herschell (63).

Evan Kellough (59) lost to FA’s Van Nguyen (44).

Nick Scarlett won over FA’s Addison Schwartz 52 to 63.

Sully Tidd (63) lost to FA’s Keenan Jones (62).

Overall team score (best four): LR finished lower with 202 strokes to FA 207

FIELD HOCKEY

The Lakers fell to Fryeburg Academy 4-0, trailing 2-0 at the half as the “defense gave up too many shots on goal even though we kept FA to three penalty corners for the whole game,” Laker Coach Pauline Webb said.

The Raiders had 19 shots on goal to the Lakers’ 12 shots.

“We had opportunities to score with nine offensive penalty corners, but couldn’t capitalize,” Coach Webb said.

LR goalie, Meghan VanLoan had 15 saves, while her counterpart FA goalie Jasmine Ramsay had six saves.

On Tuesday, the Lakers were blanked on the road against top-ranked York.

“Despite the score, I feel like we played York pretty well keeping them at only one goal in the first half, which was scored at 20:30,” Coach Webb said, “One of our keys to win was to take away stick side from their right wing and limit her touches. Abby Scott-Mitchell had that assignment and did a great job. Their right wing is usually a scorer or creates opportunities for her teammates, but we kept her scoreless and with no assists.”

Freshman Olivia Deschenes had the job of pressuring and containing the Wildcat’s key playmaker. “Olivia did a great job at containing her and slowing her down,” the coach said.

Netminder Meghan VanLoan had another incredible game with some unbelievable saves; she finished with 16 saves.

MIDDLE SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY

Last Wednesday (Oct. 1), the Lakers traveled to Kennett Middle School for the Invitational. Over 100 boys and 80 plus girls toed the line for this prestigious meet.

The Laker girls were unable to score as a team. Yet, Kennedy Brake and Rachel Jensen were able to finish in the top 50 and Jillian Whitney, running her first cross-country race, just missed cracking the 20-minute barrier.

“If this young lady keeps up the work, she will see success and much faster times. Only a sixth grader, I am very happy to see her progress,” Coach Kevin McDonald said.

On the boys’ side, the Lakers finished seventh of 12 teams.

“We had hoped for a better showing, but the boys left it all on the course and that is all I can ask for,” Coach McDonald said. “These young athletes have been working very hard and our best races are yet to come. As our season winds down, we will focus on our home meet (today, Oct. 9) and the Triple C Championships on Oct. 16.”