Instead of moving forward and improving, the Skaneateles boys soccer team found itself in danger of regression.
That was the cold lesson dealt by last Tuesday night’s 4-1 home loss to rival Marcellus, the same team it had beaten by that exact same margin on the Mustangs’ home field back on Sept. 13.
No doubt, Marcellus had improved a lot since that game, but the real difference was that Mustangs forward Nate Waite continually found gaps in the Laker defense, and made the hosts pay for it.
In between Sam Goodell’s first-half goal, Waite found the net twice, putting the Lakers behind 2-1. Instead of catching up in the second half, the Lakers could only watch as Waite tacked on two more goals, giving him four for the evening. Erik Pola, in defeat, registered 12 saves.
A turnaround was possible Friday, at Cazenovia, but instead the exact same result took place as Skaneateles lost a 4-1 decision in the latest battle of Laker teams.
Here, Sknaeateles never got started, as Cazenovia jumped to a 3-0 lead before halftime. Tyler Strods did get his side on the board in the second half, but it was far from enough as Cazenovia goalie James Matteson stopped everything else, recording 16 saves.
Other than a trip to Homer on Tuesday night, the Lakers rest and regroup this week, sporting a 5-7 mark and wanting a strong finish to the regular season just so it can return to the playoffs again.
