By Eugenio Torrens
The Land O’ Lakes boys soccer team had a meeting before its rematch against cross-town rival Sunlake on Dec. 12,
Coach Mark Pearson, in his 16thseason with the Gators (9-1-2), told his squad to apply pressure to the Seahawks (9-2-2).
Or, as senior Josh Davis put it, “Once we score and get up, we need to just step on their throat and knock them out.”
Davis had four goals as Land O’ Lakes heeded its coach’s advice en route to a 5-1 win against its district opponent. The two faced off early this year resulting in a 1-1 draw on Nov. 16.
“I know we can still play better, which sounds a little crazy because of the score, but I know we can do better,” Pearson said. “I thought we left about four, maybe five, goals off the field tonight. … Fortunately, Josh Davis had one heck of a game again today.”
But it was Davis’ teammate, Andy Garcia — who was missing from the first game — who got the Gators on the board first in the 14th minute.
Garcia broke some tackles and dribbled left before firing. Sunlake’s goalkeeper Brandon Jungbauer got a piece of it, but couldn’t get a good enough handle to stop the ball from finding the back of the net.
Then Davis took over.
After booming a kick that ricocheted off the crossbar, he later got past two defenders, broke free with the ball and slammed it in for his first goal to put Land O’ Lakes up 2-0.
Pearson told his players to be wary of their lead.
“(Pearson) said that’s the worst lead to have,” Davis said.
Davis heeded his coach’s words and scored again 3 minutes into the second half off a crossing pass. Later, he wheeled around and tapped in his third goal to nab the hat trick.
“I don’t really celebrate my goals, I don’t know why,” Davis said. “To me, I got a hat trick — I’m going to work to get another one.”
Sunlake’s Daniel Calderon prevented the shutout on a goal off a rebound with 14 minutes remaining in the contest.
Davis answered on an assist to Miguel Laliberte with 6 minutes left to secure the four-goal victory.
“We’re in good standings now,” Davis said. “We beat the team we need to beat.”
While Land O’ Lakes won bragging rights after the rematch, neither coach was too invested in the significance of the win.
“About the last week we haven’t been playing our best either, so I was kind of a little worried coming into tonight,” said Sunlake coach Sam Koleduk. “Can’t complain too much considering it’s our first loss. I think we still definitely have a little mystique still coming here. They’re very tough here.”
Pearson was pleased with the win, but cautioned that a district win wouldn’t mean much come playoff time.
“I’ve been around long enough to know that the district championships are a different breed,” Pearson said. “We’re not thinking that this is proving our case for the year, because we know it hasn’t.”
Sunlake and Land O’ Lakes will participate in the Berkeley Prep Invitational on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 1 p.m. before taking a winter break. The Seahawks resume play on Thursday, Jan. 5, while the Gators will take the pitch on Monday, Jan. 9.
