Original material from The Oakland Press  

WHITE LAKE – The Lakeland Eagles got two second half goals from Kyle Scott and eked out a 2-1 win over the Walled Lake Northern Knights in the Lakes Valley Conference Tournament soccer semifinals Wednesday night.

The game-winning goal came with just two minutes remaining when Scott fouled in the penalty area and awarded a penalty kick. He then stepped up and slotted a shot into the lower right corner for a 2-1 lead.

The Knights would have one last chance of their own with 21.6 seconds left when they were awarded a free kick from just 20 yards out. But the ball whistled over the crossbar.

“I thought they all stepped up tonight. In order for us to come back and pull that out, I think it takes a team effort, including all of the guys on the bench to the guys on the field,” Eagles head coach Anthony Ibrahim said.

The Knights led 1-0 at halftime and came close to making it 2-0 on a couple of different occasions early in the second half, but Eagles goalkeeper Jacob Wojchiehowski came up with a pair of big saves to keep Lakeland close.

The Eagles finally got on the board with 24:51 left in the game when Jeremy Balzer found Scott at the top of the penalty area and Scott turned and ripped a shot into the lower left corner to tie the game 1-1.

Overall, Lakeland had plenty of chances. Led by the midfield play of Rio Miki and Andrea Brulletti, the Eagles piled up 10 shots on goal and hit the post twice as the Lakeland pressure kept Northern goalkeeper Andrew Moran busy.

“We pulled it out. In my opinion, we were unlucky to go down 1-0 at half time. I thought we dominated play,” Ibrahim said. “We stayed on them. We tried to stay positive the entire game. We knew eventually one of them was going to fall, and that was the message at halftime. They are going to defend their 1-0 lead, and we have to continue to attack, attack, attack.”

He added that, “I thought Northern played a really, really tough and hard game tonight, so credit to them and massive respect to Austin Rogers and what he’s done at that program.”

But Moran was outstanding in his own right, coming up with a handful of key saves and tough retrievals to keep Lakeland off the board for much of the game.

“He had good positioning, was assertive, came out when he needed to, so it was good stuff from Drew,” Knights head coach Austin Rogers said.

But eventually, Lakeland just got too many opportunities and were able to capitalize.

“They definitely earned it. Hats off to Lakeland. They pressed us all night and finally we cracked,” Rogers said. “Some calls went some ways, some went the other ways. But in the end, the game went to the better team.”

The Knights had taken an early lead when Carson Rogers fed Mike James in front of net on a breakaway, and James tucked the ball in for a 1-0 lead less than eight minutes into the game. That combination of Rogers and James were the spearhead for most of the Knights’ best attacks all game long, chasing down long passes and pressuring the Lakeland defense trying to force turnovers.

With the win, Lakeland (12-0-2), the Lakes Valley Conference regular season champions, advance to the LVC playoff final where they will face Walled Lake Central. The game will be played at Lakeland next Wednesday.

“We played them earlier in the year. We tied 1-1,” Ibrahim said. “It’s a one off game, and we’ll try our best. If it goes our way, it goes our way. If not, it’s just nice for us to actually be in a final. We’re going to try our best, get some guys to rest, and go back to work on Sunday.”

Walled Lake Northern (6-7) will play Milford in the third place game next Monday.

“I thought the boys did a really good job. I think they fought really hard (tonight), and unfortunately, the penalty kick at the end kind of skewed that. But they deserve a lot of credit and so does Lakeland,” Rogers said.