The Lakewood Lady Leopards played host to the Union Spartans on Thursday night in a tight soccer match that the Leopards won, 2-0, overcoming tough defensive play by the visiting Spartans.

It was a beautiful Thursday night for a soccer match, and both teams played aggressive defense throughout the whole game. Lakewood ended up making just a few more plays than Union and was able to pull out a close victory. Both teams struggled from having relatively young teams and were not able to get much going on the offensive side of the ball.

After a stifling defense from both squads, neither team was able to get any points up on the board and ended the first quarter deadlocked at 0-0. This score, however, was only a small preview of what was to come, as the score remained close throughout the whole game.

Points were finally posted midway through the second quarter, however, as the Spartans’ goalie tripped and fell while attempting to pick up the ball, resulting in an easy chip shot for Lakewood and a 1-0 Leopard lead going into the break.

Lakewood scored again towards the end of the third quarter with a great hustle play from the Leopards as they overwhelmed Union’s goalie and kicked it in, lengthening the lead to 2-0 and making it increasingly more challenging for a young Spartan team to come back from.

Lakewood played keep away for much of the fourth quarter and ran out the clock, improving to 2-0 on the season, much to the joy of Leopards head coach Jennifer Wuester.

“We had some new players that went out and showed the skills that they have been developing over the past couple of weeks have been effective.” Wuester stated. However, despite the strong start to the season, Wuester said that her team can improve “everywhere.”

Union Spartans head coach Alyssa Neimeyer praised her defense despite the tough loss.

“I think we did really well on defense, which is something that we were worried about the most.” Neimeyer said.

The Spartans fall to 0-1 on the season.

The Spartans will be back in action on Tuesday when they host James Kenan. Lakewood travels to Midway on Friday, March 3.

Lakewood’s Claudia Yanez dribbles the ball upfield for the Lady Leopards.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Claudia-Yanez2-1.jpgLakewood’s Claudia Yanez dribbles the ball upfield for the Lady Leopards.

By Adam Johnson

Sports Writer

Reach Daron Barefoot at [email protected].