MPHS soccer team turns over win at last minute

The Middle Park High School boys soccer team allowed a victory to slip though its grasp in a 3-2 loss to Lake County in Leadville on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

After holding the lead through the mid-part of the away game, the Panthers saw it vanish in the final minutes as Lake County first tied up the score and then booted in a penalty kick to win the game.

“We just did not play a full 80 minutes of that game,” said Middle Park’s Coach Shawn McElroy. “Our performance was pretty spotty. We have to reorganize and try to regain our intensity.”

The game opened with Lake County players going on the attack to score their first goal after 20 minutes of play.

“We basically showed up flat and allowed Lake County to dictate much of the game from the get-go,” said Middle Park’s Coach Shawn McElroy.

But seeing the Leadville team’s score its first goal seemed to put some fire under the Panthers. They stepped up their play and went on the offense.

Before the first half ended, Middle Park scored two goals and took the lead 2-1. The team’s first goal was scored by Brandon Cronin off an assist from Robert Johnson. A few minutes later, Johnson scored the second goal with an assist from Joey Coucke.

“We had a small rally and we went into halftime with the lead,” McElroy said. “But then we came out flat again for the second half and allowed Lake County to keep possession of the ball for most of the time.”

Finally with 15 minutes left on the game clock, Lake County made a corner kick that scored to tie up the game at 2-2.

“We then lost our composure and gave up a penalty kick that put Lake County up by one point with eight minutes left,” McElroy said. “We made a couple of efforts after that, but they fell short.”

With this latest loss, McElroy said the team needs to make some changes.

“We’ve been giving way too many goals, especially those penalty kicks,” he said.
“There are going to be some position changes because we’ve got to strengthen our defense. And we’ve got to work on our composure because we just can’t afford to give up those penalty kicks when things get tight.”

Last night, the Panther soccer team hosted Lookout Academy at Middle Park High School. Read the Sky-Hi Daily News later this week for a game story.