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Ainsley’s return sparks Lakeview soccer
By Steve Wilaj
WARREN
In Lakeview’s previous game against Poland, there was a glimpse of the 2012, uninjured version of Colton Ainsley.
Saturday against Warren Harding, the Bulldogs received a full dose of the dynamic senior.
Coming off a recent foot injury, Ainsley scored three goals as Lakeview defeated the Raiders, 6-0, in a soccer game at Mollenkopf Stadium.
“The last 20 minutes of our game against Poland, we saw the 2012 version of Colton start to make an appearance,” said Bulldogs coach Nate Mailach. “Once he shakes off the mental side of the foot injury, the sky is the limit for this team. We’ll get rolling as soon as he gets rolling.”
Ainsley was, indeed, rolling against Harding. He scored the first three goals of the game.
His first goal came at the 21:41 mark of the first half on a penalty kick. He followed that with another goal at the 12:45 mark. Ainsley completed the hat trick with another successful penalty kick in the 48th minute.
“We feed off him,” Mailach said. “He puts the ball in the net and everybody else can relax and do their job.”
Ainsley called his performance “monumental” for more than one reason.
“It’s been awhile since I stepped on the field,” he said. “So it’s just about getting my confidence back. I just like to work hard and the effort shows.”
Following Ainsley’s outburst, Lakeview scored three more times as Evan Olbyrch, Matt Pasternak and Anthony Sember all found the back of the net.
“We passed the ball today. We passed the ball real well,” Mailach said. “Guys were moving with the ball, so it was a total team effort today.”
Harding coach Tilden Tatebe wasn’t as pleased with his team’s effort — particularly their high-amount of yellow cards.
“Hopefully this is our worst game of the year,” Tatebe said. “It better be because I don’t want to see something like this again. After the first penalty kick and the next goal, things just didn’t go right.”
Goalkeeper Austin Vingle had 15 saves for the Raiders (1-2). His opposing goalkeeper, sophomore Jackson Gagne, had nine saves in preserving the shutout.
“He practices just as hard as he plays out here in games,” Mailach said. “We have a lot of guys that can rifle the ball, so he’s part of the firing squad every day. So he’s getting better and his confidence is growing.”
With the victory, Lakeview improved to 4-0-1.
“We just came out and possessed the ball,” Ainsley said. “We utilized the wings and played a total game.”