L’ville’s drought continues in loss to Mercersburg

LAWRENCEVILLE >> When it comes to offensive struggles, few boys soccer teams in The Trentonian’s coverage area have had problems connecting the way the Lawrenceville School varsity has at the start of the 2019 season.

The good news, as 16th-year head coach Blake Eldridge points out, is that there is still another half of the season to come.

For now, however, the drought has been difficult to take, especially since the Big Red usually play such fine defense and keep their team in games, even against the toughest competition.

Friday was one more of those tough games when Mid-Atlantic Prep League foe Mercersburg Academy visited Chambers Field and defeated Lawrenceville, 3-0, even though the home team had the majority of the possession and an edge in shots.

“Here we don’t really have anyone to finish right now,” L’ville senior forward Xavier Lacoste said.

Lacoste, a native of AncienneLorette, Quebec, who also has been a place kicker for the Canadian Junior National Football Team, does what he can up top, but he needs more scorers to step forward and help.

Lacoste has scored four of the Big Red’s six goals this fall. That’s six goals in nine games. Lawrenceville was shut out for the sixth time yesterday.

“We’re working,” Eldridge said. “In the first half of this game, we were too direct (attacking the net). We can be dangerous if we play the ball early. In the second half, we got smarter. We found our target guy, but our last touch let us down.”

L’ville (1-7-1) kept things exciting throughout, but fell behind with 9:35 left in the first half when Mercersburg’s dangerous target Foday Bangura made a sideline run and cross, which the Big Red could not clear as far as they would have liked. The Blue Storm’s Diego Morgan got the ball at the top of the box and cranked the failed clear back into the net past the diving effort of freshman goalkeeper Liam Flynn.

No worries. Again Lawrenceville’s offense was knocking at the door.

Then, with 28:50 left in the second half, Mercersburg Academy got a corner kick with Flynn looking directly into the setting sun. Bangura curled the corner over the goalkeeper and under the crossbar for a 2-0 lead.

Still plenty of time. Yet, when Blue Storm goalkeeper Alex Lorenzo made a diving save on a low blast from Teddy Gutman, there was more disappointment.

“We need to exploit our counter-attacks,” Lacoste said. “We do a good job on defense, but we need to improve our explosion when we get it.”

With 9:30 to go, Lacoste headed a corner kick sharply on goal, but just over the bar. Threeand-a-half minutes later, he backhealed a pass to Mac Dilatush for another shot, only to see Lorenzo pick the ball out of the air. With five minutes to go, Tait Mott chipped a shot over the net.

“We’re making opportunities, but we’re not finishing,” Eldridge said.

Coming off a 4-0 home loss to St. Benedict’s (another game in which the Big Red stayed as close as 1-0 until late in the second half), their futility is frustrating. As if a dagger for all the hard work, L’ville saw Mercersburg connect once more with 1:55 left when Mason Davis finished a cross from Luis Gomez.

Mercersburg (6-2-1) Lawrenceville(1-7-1) 1 2 — 3 0 0 — 0

Goals: Morgan, Bangura, MDavis (MA); Assist: LGomez (MA).

Shots: 10 (MA), 12 (L); Saves: Lorenzo 6 (MA), Flynn 7 (L).