BY SHANE HENNIGAN
Times-Shamrock Writer

It was a match that was there for the taking for both Lakeland and Mountain View.

Both converted on opportunities, both missed opportunities and both displayed phenomenal defensive play.

And both teams proved to be evenly matched Thursday as they played to a 1-1 tie in a Lackawanna League boys soccer Division III battle of co-leaders.

Lakeland (4-0-1) came out attacking from the opening kick, firing five shots in the first 13 minutes.
Despite not scoring, the Chiefs didn’t allow Mountain View (4-0-1) to get into an offensive flow.

That changed in the 15th minute when Lakeland was whistled for a foul, setting up a direct free kick from 20 yards away that Ed Bognatz blasted into the back of the net to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

“They were attacking us and for us to get a shot like that, I would say it put us in the game like we should have been in the first 10 minutes or so,” Mountain View coach Roger Thomas said. “It pumped us up.”

Mountain View had another chance in the 32nd minute but goalkeeper Terrance Arendt’s diving save stopped Ryan Lavin’s shot from going in.

Three minutes later, Lakeland had a chance of its own as Michael Tomcykoski crossed in a pass to the middle of the box, but the ball deflected high and out of play.

Like it did in the first half, Lakeland attacked to start the second half and nearly tied it in the first 40 seconds. Lucas Snedeker got a shot off from point-blank range but sophomore goalkeeper Jesse Gerfin dove and swatted the ball away to preserve the shutout for the time being.

Snedeker, though, wouldn’t be denied much longer, as he took a header at the near post and fired it into the net to get the Chiefs on the board.

Lakeland had the best opportunity of either team in the 56th minute when Graeme Nichols lined up for a penalty kick. But Gerfin came up with the biggest save of the day, diving to his left to stop the shot and keep the match tied.

Gerfin finished with 14 saves.

“That PK save was brilliant,” Thomas said. “To have a 10th grader playing at that level early in his career is really, really wonderful.”

The Eagles attacked Lakeland’s zone in the final 20 minutes, firing off six shots. But Arendt had two of his 15 saves in that stretch to send the game to two 10-minute, sudden-death overtime periods.

Cykoski nearly ended the match 40 seconds into the period with a shot inside the box. But the Eagles defense recovered and knocked it out of play.

Neither team scored in the first overtime and with one minute remaining in the second, Bognatz lined a shot from 25 yards away. But Arendt came up with another save to set up a corner kick.

Nate Ransom headed James Goodenough’s pass but Arendt made his final save of the day to preserve the tie.

In other soccer action last week:
Corbin French scored three goals Tuesday to lead host Blue Ridge to a 5-1 victory over Old Forge in a Lackawanna Soccer League Division III boys game.

Austin Cordoza added two goals and an assist for the Raiders.
Old Forge (2-2) 0 1 — 1 Blue Ridge (3-1) 2 3 — 5
BR — Corbin French 6:00
BR — Austin Cordoza (Tyrell Cheeseboro) 17:00
BR — French (Cordoza) 41:00
BR — French (Jon Blewett) 50:00
OF — Mark Voyack 56:00
BR — Cordoza 78:00
Shots-corners: OF 13-3, BR 24-6.
Saves: Patrick Donovan (OF) 12; Shawn Woodruff (BR) 3.

At Dunmore, James Goodenough had a goal and an assist to help Mountain View remain unbeaten.
Mountain View (4-0) 2 0 — 2 Dunmore (2-2) 1 0 — 1
MV — James Goodenough (Ed Bognatz) 3:59
MV — Ryan Lavin (Goodenough) 14:22
DUN — Joe Nemeth (Bailey Sleboda) 26:48
Shots-corners: MV 9-4, DUN 14-4.
Saves: Jesse Gerfin (MV) 9; Kyle Copeland (DUN) 6.
Montrose 4, Holy Cross 1

At Polonia Park, Giovanni Amato and Zach Dieck scored second-half goals to lead Montrose.
Nick Vinansky scored for Holy Cross.
Montrose (3-1) 2 2 — 4 Holy Cross (2-2) 1 0 — 1
MON — Tom Vaccaro 19:00
HC — Nick Vinansky (penalty kick) 28:00
MON — Kyle Watkins 36:00
MON — Giovanni Amato (penalty kick) 49:00
MON — Zach Dieck 69:00
Shots-corners: MON 14-6, HC 4-1.
Saves: Brandon Buck (MON) 3; Dean Angeloni (HC) 7.

At Elk Lake, Blake Chew had a goal and an assist to lead the Warriors to a 3-0 win over Mid Valley.
Mid Valley (0-4) 0 0 — 0 Elk Lake (1-3) 0 3 — 3
EL — Blake Chew. 61:14
EL — Luis Laboda (Francisco Lopez), 72:10
EL — Ben Woolcock (Chew), 73:32
Shots-corners: MV 12-1, EL 20-7
Saves: Alex Pieshefski (MV) 10, Zach Groover (EL) 10.