LAKEWOOD According to Lakewood soccer coach Vaughn Vandelac, the Cougars 4-3 win over Coupeville should not have been the shootout that took place April 5 at Lakewood High School.
We won. Its a win, but Vandelac trailed off as he greeted his players at the end of the match against a Coupeville team which is still winless in Cascade Conference play. The win puts the Cougars in a tie with Sultan for second place, with a 4-2 league record and a game behind first-place Cedarcrest.
Freshman forward Joseph Hawkins gave the Cougars an early lead with a pair of first-period goals, but then the Coupeville team started to kick back, taking advantage of Lakewood mistakes to score three goals and lead at halftime.
In the next 20 minutes of play, the Cougars struggled to find a rhythm on offense as the teams dueled back and forth up the field. Senior midfielder Lucas Antonnascios attempt around the 47-minute mark made it no further than the stomach of Coupevilles goalkeeper.
With about 19:45 remaining, Coupeville then struck at the Lakewood goal defended by junior Peter Karrenberg, but the effort was blocked by Karrenberg and senior defender Kevin Hooks.
A couple of minutes later, Lakewood senior forward Andrew Escalante nearly evened the score as his attempt earned the groans of Cougar fans when it bounced off the top bar of the Coupeville net.
When it appeared Lakewood midfielder Eric Hawks was getting his foot on the ball no matter where he played, Vandelac moved the junior to offense with about 10 minutes left in the game. Not long after, Hawkins drove on the Coupeville goal to try for the game-tying goal but was unsuccessful.
Then, with 5:34 left, Hawks scored the third goal that had eluded the Cougars much of the game to tie the teams.
With 2:22 remaining, Hawkins once again drove the ball on the goal and was once again deflected by the Coupeville goaltender. This time, however, sophomore midfielder Craig Hooks came in behind him for the rebound and drove in the game-winning fourth goal for Lakewood.
After the game, Hawks explained the mentality that gave Coupeville an opening to get into the game.
We had a 2-0 lead at the beginning, and I thought wed get the win pretty easily. In the second half, we just tried to get in it, he said.
Vandelac said he was happy to come away with the win, but could not account for Lakewoods late-game surge.
We were leading 2-0 and decided to stop playing soccer, he said.
We got lucky with our shots. Coupeville is in the bottom of the conference and we gave them three goals, he added. We made mental mistakes on defense.