Boys soccer falls to Lawndale at Home

On the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 15, the Samo boys soccer team ran out on the field, set to play Lawndale High School. This was a key Ocean League matchup. The winner would be closer to clinching a playoff spot down the road.Samo started strong from the first whistle, controlling possession and moving the ball nicely. For most of the first half, neither team was able to take the lead, but Lawndale had many close shots that were deflected by the Samo goalkeeper. A little later on, Lawndale earned a corner kick (an opportunity to send the ball in front of the goal to be kicked in). A Lawndale midfielder managed to launch the ball to his teammate, who knocked it in with his head, resulting in a goal. Samo went down 0-1, and would never be able to recover. Shortly thereafter, Samo had a few chances to put together an offensive attack, but the home team couldn't break through. A missed free kick and failed header attempt concluded the first half.The second half began with Lawndale pushing for another goal, which occurred a few minutes after play resumed. A Lawndale striker weaved through the Samo defense and kicked his floating shot past the goalkeeper to put the away team up 2-0. At that point, Lawndale completely took control of the match, scoring yet another time after the ball was put into Samo’s goal after being fought for by both sides in front of net. Now down 0-3, the home team looked defeated, and they kept allowing the Lawndale team to fire shots at their goal. This led to Lawndale’s fourth goal, a faraway free kick which managed to curve by Samo’s goalie. Samo’s deficit grew to 0-4, and from here on out, each team couldn’t muster a sufficient offensive run. The last exciting event of the match came when a Lawndale player insulted a referee, earning two yellow cards, which resulted in an ejection.After the match, head coach Corey Prost knew there was room for improvement.“I think we fought really hard until they [Lawndale] scored their second goal.” Prost said. “And then we put our heads down a little bit. Up until the second goal, we had dominated the play and the score didn’t reflect how the game was going. After the second goal, we need to be mentally strong and continue to fight.”