Medical Lake head soccer coach Zane Higgins had been looking for consistency in his team.
And despite splitting a pair of Northeast A League matches last week, he thinks he’s found it.
The Cardinals lost a heartbreaking contest in the final seconds, 3-2 to Lakeside April 14, but turned around April 16 to dominate Riverside 7-0 to close the week.
“We played two pretty good games,” Higgins said. “We’ve been having a problem playing really well against good teams and dropping a level when we play weaker teams.”
Against Lakeside (3-1 NEA, 3-3 overall) the Cardinals trailed early, 2-0 by the 10-minute mark.
”I don’t think we were quite focused right off the bat,” Higgins said. “Once we started playing and got some confidence I thought we controlled the game, out-possessed them and I think we got the majority of the quality chances.”
The Cardinals (3-1, 3-7) got goals from Ryan Spangler on a penalty kick in the 20th minute and Ty Masteller tied it at 30 minutes.
The second half was kind of a battle back and forth, Higgins said. Neither team had many great opportunities other than the Cardinals had one bounce off the post.
Things stayed that way until the final moments when Kelly Kyllo broke past the defenders and scored on a breakaway for his second goal with just seconds to play.
Kyllo set himself up between the outside and center defender. ”They weren’t close enough together and they couldn’t get to him in time before he got a breakaway and went one-on-one with our keeper,” Higgins said. “We just weren’t in the right position.”
Medical Lake rebounded well versus Riverside (0-4, 1-5) with their first shutout win of the season with Sam Matt in goal. “That’s something we need to do if we’re going to go far in the playoffs,” Higgins said.
Ryan Spangler scored three times and added an assist against the Rams. Nick Rosenbeck had a pair of goals and Wil Nobel had what Higgins called, “A great free kick goal,” in the 29th minute, giving the Cardinals a 4-0 lead at the break. Kirill Lesnykh had the other score.
With the lead going into the second half, Higgins had the luxury to rest starters and play the bench. “We got a lot of guys some playing time,” Higgins said.
Medical Lake had a major showdown versus league-leading Colville (4-0, 5-1) April 21 at home and then host Newport (1-2, 4-2) Saturday at 4 p.m.
“They’re leading the league right now, they’re 4-0,” Higgins said. “Nice thing about it is they put things in our hands if we win.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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