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Lakeview boys edge Poland to clinch AAC White title
By Greg Gulas
POLAND
Second-half goals by Anthony Sylvester and Vinnie Rienzi helped Lakeview to a 3-2 victory over Poland on Tuesday night as the Bulldogs from Trumbull County clinched their fourth consecutive All-American Conference, White Division title at Dave Pavlansky Field.
Sylvester’s seventh goal of the season at 24:23 of the second half broke a 1-1 tie as Lakeview moved to 12-1 on the year and remained undefeated in AAC play (8-0) with two league games remaining.
“When Poland tied the game at 1-1 a few minutes earlier, they picked their heads up and I knew that I had to get more physical,” Sylvester said. “Brendan White crossed the ball to me, I had a nice touch and was then able to finish it off.”
Rienzi’s 10th goal at 19:28 then increased the Lakeview lead to 3-1.
“It started off with Jake Busefink in the corner as he beat his man,” Rienzi said. “He tried to play it to the top of the box, but a defender blocked it over to me and that’s when I was able to bury it.”
Lakeview scored the only goal of the opening half, taking a 1-0 lead to intermission on the strength of White’s tally at the 28:18 mark.
“I got a corner and put a curving ball down on the left side of the goal,” White said. “One of their defenders touched it and it went in.”
Lakeview head coach Brian Phillips was pleased with the win, but not pleased with the fact that his team couldn’t deliver the knock-out punch.
“This is the fourth or fifth time this season that we’ve let teams get back in the game. It’s just frustrating to see us make the same mistakes,” Phillips said. “You cannot do that against a good team like Poland, especially on their turf, because they take advantage of those opportunities.
“Our seniors have now won the league title each year that they’ve played and that is quite an accomplishment. We’re still a work in progress, but with the league wrapped up we’ll now focus on the upcoming tournament.”
Poland (8-4-1, 5-3-1 AAC White) tied the game at a goal apiece when Marcus Romeo’s fifth goal found the back of the net at 29:18 of the second half.
“Reed [McCreery] laid the ball out to me at the top of the arc, I tried to hit it clear and it just sailed over the goalie,” Romeo said. “It got us back in the game and gave us some momentum.
Trailing 3-1, McCreery’s goal with 7:08 remaining pulled Poland to within a goal, but it was too little, too late.
“Matt Slepski played a beautiful ball across the penalty area, the defender missed it and I was there to clean it up,” McCreery said.
Poland head coach Brian Garcar switched some things from their first meeting on Sept. 12, a 4-1 victory by Lakeview.
“We threw three forwards up top, which was different than the one forward we used the last time we played them,” Garcar said. “Our offensive engines are Jake Bacon, Reed McCreery, Matt Slepski and Noah Cartwright. After watching tapes from our last meeting, we wanted to get our athletes in position to score. We were ready to play.”