South Lyon earns share of LVC title with 3-2win overWestern
The South Lyon Lions came frombehind to claima 3-2win over the Walled Lake Western Warriors and earn a share of the Lakes Valley Conference regular season crown.
“It was a good game. We always battle with Western. It’s gone back and forth last year and this year. This year we were able to grab two goals in the second half and come out on top,” South Lyon captain Shane Marinkovich said.
With the game tied 2-2 and just over seven minutes remaining, one of the Lions players was given a straight red card for dissent when theWarriors were awarded a throw in deep in Lion territory. But South Lyon persevered, winning the ball off the throw in and starting a counterattack that ended with the Lions receiving a penalty kick.
Senior Jean Gamboa stepped up to coolly slot home the penalty kick with 6:46 remaining, and South Lyon held off the final push from Walled LakeWestern to claimthewin and a share of the regular season league title.
“It was a bizarre game,” South Lyon head coach Brian Elliott said. “I’m very proud of our boys and the fact that we kept our heads and for the most part played the game and left all the other stuff behind. It was a good solid defensive effort, a good team effort, and a great win.”
Coming into the game, the Warriors had already clinched a share of the league title but could have won the title outright with a win or a draw against South Lyon
Trailing 2-1 at halftime, the Lions’ halftime adjustments paid dividends in the second half as South Lyon had the better chances and found the required goals for the comeback. That comeback got started on the scoreboard early when Adam Mason fired a left side
corner kick that drifted across goal where captain Josh Mason was waiting to head it home and tie the game. It was Mason’s second goal from a corner kick in the game.
“Shout out to Walled LakeWestern, their team, their coaches. They’ve got a great team this year. They battled strong. They got a couple of good quality goals in the first half,” Elliott said. “I’m very proud of our boys and how we battled back in the second half. We talked at halftime that we’ve got to contain them. We’ve got limit their chances, and we had to score goals. We knew that this was do or die game. We had to win.”
The Lions had come out strong, scoring just three minutes into the game, when a corner kick ricocheted off the crossbar and Josh Mason powered home the rebound for an early 1-0 South Lyon lead.
The Lions dominated much of the first twenty minutes as the Warriors seemed unable to cope with South Lyon, especially in midfield. But South Lyon could only score the one goal in that stretch.
“This was a way higher intensity game thanwe’ve played all year,” Warriors head coach Andrew Stratton said. “It took us a few minutes to adjust to the speed, to their pressure, which they (South Lyon) pressure all over the field. We trained for it, but they bring it even harder than we were expecting, so it took our guys a little bit.”
And the Warriors would live up to their name, battling through the slow start. Walled Lake Western tied the game with 15:31 remaining in the first half when
LukeKarfis won a race for a long ball over the top, deked a defender and fired home a goal tomake it 1-1. Just 3:28 later, Kieran Macbeth put Walled LakeWestern ahead when he intercepted a clearing attempt and rifled a shot into the open net for a 2-1 lead.
Suddenly, it was South Lyon who seemed to be trying to hang on and get to halftime. Karfis, Macbeth, and Nao Otsu were the spearhead of theWarrior attack all night, but they were especially effective in the final twenty minutes of the first half as Walled LakeWestern carried the play during that stretch and took both the lead and momentum into halftime.
With the win, South Lyon improves to 7-1-1 overall and finishes the LVC regular season 6-11, co- champions with Walled LakeWestern who is now 6-1-1 overall and in the LVC.
“Hats of f to South Lyon. I really thought they outworked us, and they earned that victory. We made them work for it, but they deserved it,” Stratton said.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Walled Lake Central to contest The Boot crosstown trophy.
South Lyon has some time off until the LVC Tournament starts next week. The Lions will be the top seed by virtue of the head to head tiebreaker.
Last year, the two teams faced off for the league regular season title, the league playoff title, and then met again in the district playoffs. The Warriors and Lions are once again drawn in the same district and could again face each other three times down the stretch of the season with titles on the line.