Lake endures rough afternoon vs. St. Edward

Lake Catholic conceded goals with seven seconds left in the opening 40 and 31 seconds after halftime, a harbinger of a rough afternoon that was clear at the final whistle of a 5-0 loss to visiting St. Edward on Aug. 24.

The Cougars (2-1), seeking their first win over the Eagles (2-1) since 2009, had decent attacking flow at times during the match.

But an inability to consistently disrupt St. Edward’s combination play led to the Eagles enjoying a 10-2 shots on target advantage and, eventually, a comfortable margin for the result.

“I thought we played pretty well overall — honestly,” Lake coach Kevin Pitorak said. “We were playing good soccer, and we were with them. And then the first goal, the ball was kind of bouncing around. The guy didn’t even hit it that cleanly. He just dribbled it to the back post, guy comes in and taps it in. Just unlucky. And yeah, on the corner, with seven seconds left to give it up like that in a close game, that’s a backbreaker.

“Again, we’re still in the game. It’s only 2-0. That’s the most dangerous score in soccer, and I told them at halftime, ‘We get a goal, and we’re right back in this thing. You never know what happens.’ The half starts, and we win a ball, we make a poor pass and then they counter us. Then it’s rough to recover from that.”

Pearse Bialowas opened the St. Edward account in the 10th minute with a right-footed finish at the right post after nice work in the box by Brendan McIlwee. The Cougars yielded a corner in the waning seconds of the half, and Bialowas served far post for Cameron Foutz, who slotted a strike for a 2-0 lead.

Dakota Jonke hit Lake on a hard counter 31 seconds after the half and connected on a smooth right-footed effort wide. The sophomore added a fourth on a penalty kick in the 49th minute.

Lake showed glimpses of combination play but didn’t record a shot on target until Evan Cassano’s free kick in the 70th.

“I just told the guys, ‘We’re going to keep going,’ “Pitorak said. “We’re going to keep pushing and getting better every day. We’re not going to let stuff like this faze us. We’re still going to have a very successful year.”

Coming soon

For more from this match, check back in the coming days on News-Herald.com and in our print edition.