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Wildcats Slip Past Green Dragons

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Lake Placid's Jorge Medina 14 controls a throw-in as McKeel's Quin O'Neal defends during the second half of Friday night's District 8 match at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

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By MARK PINSON Highlands Today

Published: December 14, 2008

LAKE PLACID - The Lake Placid boys soccer team needs to have a short memory.

The Green Dragons played valiantly in a hard-fought, physical contest against McKeel Academy on Friday night, but came out on the short end of a 1-0 score on a rebound goal by junior forward Dylan Dore late in the match at a frigid Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

The Class 3A-District 8 win improved the Wildcats to 6-5-2 overall and 3-1-1 in district play, while the frustrating loss dropped Lake Placid to 1-5 overall and 1-4 in district play.

"I almost don't know what to say," said Green Dragon coach Josh Virkler. "This was one of those games you need to forget because there were a lot of strange calls and a lot of guys knocked to the ground with no calls.

"We had a couple guys get hurt, but we don't want to make excuses, McKeel had the better of the play by a little bit and deserved to win."

Lake Placid came out aggressive and dominated the pace of play in the first half with several shots on goal against the aggressive McKeel defense.

But Wildcat senior keeper Sam Clayton was in position to make the saves to keep the match scoreless.

The Green Dragons looked like they would receive a penalty kick after a McKeel player committed a hand-ball in the 18-yard box midway through the first half.

Instead of a possible go-ahead goal and seizing control of the match, the referee ruled that it was an inadvertent whistle and no penalty shot would be awarded to Lake Placid.

"Mysterious is a good word for that call," Virkler said. "The McKeel player touched the ball in the box with his hand and one referee blew his whistle and called the foul, but the head referee overruled the call and said it was an inadvertent whistle.

"That was an important play in the game."

McKeel, which finished with nine shots on goal, almost took the lead just before halftime when a header off a throw-in hit the crossbar and bounced away.

"I was pleased with our effort, especially in the first half, because we usually start out slow," Virkler said. "We played composed, worked the ball around on the ground and went forward.

"In the second half, we slacked off and started letting the refereeing get in our heads and that's something we just can't do."

McKeel pressed the action in the second half, but Green Dragon junior keeper Ernesto Jimenez made several acrobatic saves to keep the match scoreless.

The Wildcats broke through when Jimenez came out to make a save, but the rebound ricocheted to Dore, who calmly booted the ball into the back of the empty net as Ramos and a McKeel player lay injured on the ground with 23:53 remaining in the match.

Jimenez had to leave before returning later in the match.

"The referee is not obligated to blow the whistle when the goalie collides with another player," Virkler said. "But as hard as both of those guys went down, I probably would've called it, but it's the referee's discretion and there's nothing we can do about it."

Lake Placid had a flurry of shots on goal as time wound down, but none found the back of the net for the equalizer and the Wildcats escaped with the victory.

Lake Placid is back on the pitch on Tuesday with an away match against district rival Frostproof.

"We have to forget this match and get ready for a good Frostproof club," Virkler said. "We beat them by one goal last week, but we need to come ready to play because they are always tough at home."

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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