The Patriots scored two goals to cruise to victory over the host Lake Region Lakers. The Patriots controlled the possession and tempo of the game from the opening kickoff.
After the whistle blew to begin the game, the Patriots were quickly and frequently in their offensive third of the field. They brought wave after wave of attacking pressure to the Lakers’ defense. Despite the amount of attacking by the Patriots, they only had a total of five shots in the first half.
Just over thirteen minutes into the game the Patriots earned their second corner kick. West Duffy sent a strong, well placed corner kick into the middle of the eighteen where Jordan Grant was able to head the ball with tremendous force into the back of the net. As the first half continued the Lakers were able to slow down the Patriots and take a few shots of their own.
The second half began with even more pressure from the Patriots’ offense. The ball was constantly in their attacking third of the field. There was a feeling of inevitability that a second goal was going to come. Sure enough, with just over 23 minutes left in the game, Emma West broke free down the left sideline with the ball, turned past the last defender and send a low, left-footed cross into the box. The ball found a wide open Jordan, who quickly moved the ball to her right foot and powered the shot into the back of the net for the second time.
The Patriots continued to attack, coming close to adding more goals on several occasions. A shot by West skipped past the post by a few inches and a deep shot from Eliza Hotham bounced off the crossbar, nearly put back in on the rebound.
With this win the Patriots improve to 1-1 on the season, while the Lakers fall to 0-2-1. The Patriots will look to continue this momentum when they travel to Poland to take on the Knights Saturday September 14th. JV will kickoff at 11:00am and Varsity will follow at 1:00pm.