Leopards extend winning streak, hold off Rebels

The Lakewood soccer team took to the pitch Monday night, hoping to defend their turf against conference foe North Duplin, a team that gave them a two overtime match that resulted in a tie the last time they faced off against each other. The Leopards were also looking to extend their winning streak to four games, and they did just that, downing the Rebels, 2-0.

Lakewood started with the ball and they quickly moved to get it into their offensive zone. Anner Yanes gave it to Gerson Navas, who progressed into Rebel territory, but a hard shot off a North Duplin defender resulted in an injury and the clock stopped at 39:24.

North Duplin stole the ball after the inbound pass, getting it to their offensive zone instead. The Leopards made quick work getting it back to the other side to deploy their offensive attack once more. Lakewood kept up the offensive pressure, but couldn’t find any open lanes to even attempt a shot.

That is, until Navas got down the field around the 36:30 mark on a breakaway, but his shot hit the side net of the goal, and the attempt was foiled.

A penalty in North Duplin’s offensive zone at the 34:45 mark gave the Rebels a PK opportunity, but Lakewood’s goaltender, Jhon Parra, swallowed it up and punted it away.

Edward Palap-Perez connected with Navas on a cross-field pass just north of 31 minutes to go in the first half, and Navas tried to get it back to him, but the Rebel defender swooped in and sent the ball out of bounds from in front of the goal. The Leopards received a corner kick as a result, but it was sent back to the opposite side of the field to try and get Lakewood’s pressure off the Rebels.

Palap-Perez had a shot with less than 30 minutes on the clock, but the North Duplin goalie was there to stop it. 10 minutes into the game, possession heavily favored Lakewood as they continued their notorious offensive pressure.

North Duplin snuck into their offensive zone, and got a shot on goal right around 28 minutes, but it was sent away by Parra in a diving save. Another shot from the Rebels sailed towards the goal with 27:20 left, but Jordy Cruz was there to move the ball into the Leopards’ attack.

Another Lakewood shot sailed over the net at 26:15, and William Acosta sent another over top of the goal at 24:22.

North Duplin’s offense sent a a near-midfield PK towards the goal with around 22 minutes left, but it sailed wide right and well out of bounds.

Lakewood got the ball near the net once more on the return attack, but again they were thwarted by the Rebels’ defense. A corner kick from Lakewood on their offensive side of the field saw Palap-Perez with a small window to get a shot off, but his shot missed wide left at 20:10.

At 18:20, North Duplin sent a shot that barely eclipsed the top of the net after being touched by Lakewood. On the ensuing corner kick, the Rebels attempted a header, but their pass was too long.

With 14:36 remaining in the first half, Palap-Perez got between two defenders and fired a shot towards the goal, but once more, the North Duplin defender was there to send it out of bounds.

Palap-Perez had a breakaway look at the goal, around the 14 minute mark, but made contact with the goaltender en route to the Rebels stopping the attempt. Palap-Perez looked to be injured, as he was down on the field for a bit afterwards, but he got up and was back in action.

The game slowed down a bit, with neither team able to gain full control of it. Lakewood continued to put pressure on their offensive zone, but North Duplin continued to keep them out of the goal. Yahir Espinoza sent one over the net at the 4:30 mark, signifying the struggles of both teams offensively. Aaron Avila took a PK at 1:37, which he sent right to the goal, but he was once again denied by the goaltender.

John Fernandez got down deep into the offensive zone on a breakaway and sent a cross-field pass to Palap-Perez in the middle of the field in front of goal, who rocketed it into the back right corner of the net at the 1:04 mark. This made it a 1-0 Lakewood lead just before halftime, breaking the tie that ensued for the large majority of the first half.

North Duplin came out in the second half trying to stop Lakewood’s persistent offense and starting an offensive attack of their own, but the Leopards were seemingly there every chance they got.

A centering pass from Palap-Perez to Cristofer Cortes at 37:15 gave the Leopards another chance at a goal, but the stout Rebel goaltender took away the opportunity. Fernandez sent a PK just inside the offensive zone with 33:40 left, but any opportunity the Leopards had was quickly thwarted.

“Control, control, control!” Lakewood’s coach, Marco Perez could be heard yelling to his team throughout the early stages of the second half, signifying it was a point of emphasis during halftime to slow the ball down and control it more.

Things slowed down in the second half, with each team vying for possession and control of the game. At 25:30, Lakewood almost got another goal, but the goaltender was there to stop it.

The ball continued to all-but-live in the Lakewood offensive zone nearing the halfway mark of the second half, but the score remained at the 1-0 like it had shortly before half. This continued presure paid off, though, as Palap-Perez widened the lead to 2-0 with 20:13 left, on a quick dribble in front of the net and a shot just out of reach of the opposing goalie, marking the last goal that would be scored all night.

Fernandez sent a PK towards the net once more, but like clockwork, it was denied. Nonetheless, the Leopards’ intense offensive pressure was getting them more chances to score. Avila rocketed another PK from near the center line towards the goal at the 12:10 mark, but his leg was too strong and it sailed over the net.

A North Duplin free kick was denied by Parra at the 8:57 mark, as both teams continued to battle it out.

Another Lakewood scoring attempt was thwarted just under 4:30 to go in the game, showing that while the attempts were there, they still came out unsuccessful. Palap-Perez broke away with the ball with three minutes left, much to the excitement of the hometown crowd, but a North Duplin defender came in at the last second to knock the ball away.

North Duplin made one last attempt at the goal as the time ran out, but Parra was there for the stop, to seal his shutout of the Rebels.

Head coach Marco Perez confirmed that control was a point of emphasis for his team at halftime. “Ah, definitely, definitely,” he answered, when asked if it was. “Even when it was 1-0, we wanted to have control and gain advantage by scoring another one.”

When asked about how it feels to grab two crucial homefield wins on back-to-back Mondays, Perez simply said “goosebumps,” with a smile and a laugh, as he pulled up his shirt sleeve to show off the goosebumps he still had, minutes after the game went final. “It’s not exactly where we want to be, but yeah, goosebumps,” he said.

The 2024 edition of the Lakewood Leopards’ soccer team is much different than years past, as they are currently 9-4-2 and boast a 5-1-1 conference record, second behind only Hobbton’s perfect 7-0 record in the Carolina 1A. Last season, the Leopards were 6-14-1 overall, and the year before, they were 3-16-2.

Lakewood travels to Hobbton tonight for a matchup of the top of the conference. Hobbton took the first game, 8-1, on Sept. 30.