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Cowboys Wrangle Green Dragons

MARK PINSON/HIGHLANDS TODAY

Lake Placid's Andres Morales (8) and LaBelle's Carlos Galvez battle for a ball during the second half of Tuesday night's match at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: January 10, 2008

LAKE PLACID — A holiday break from school is something high school athletes look forward to, but not the coaches.

Not being able to practice and stay in condition was a key factor in Tuesday night's boys non-district soccer match, as LaBelle's Jesus Andrade scored three goals to lead the Cowboys past Lake Placid 5-2 at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

"We tried to practice a couple of times over the Christmas break, but so many of the guys were away that it didn't really do much for us," said Green Dragon coach Josh Virkler. "I thought we played pretty well overall, but we gave up some soft goals because of mental errors and a lack of communication, and that goes to being rusty and not being focused."

"We did a good job of controlling the ball at midfield and had several shots on goal and we need to continue to press the attack when we have the advantage."

LaBelle, which improved to 8-3-3, beat Lake Placid 5-0 earlier in the season, but the Cowboys had to use all of their talent to pull away in the second half.

"I hate these holiday breaks," said fourth-year LaBelle coach Jef Frost. "We didn't get to practice and it showed in our play.

"We were a step slow to the ball and in our reaction, especially in the first half, but Lake Placid has really improved from earlier in the season and made us work for the win."

LaBelle broke through against the Lake Placid defense for its first goal when Andrade, a fleet-footed sophomore, was able to corral the rebound on an indirect kick and rifled a shot past Green Dragon keeper Omar Villeda in the 29th minute.

The Cowboys extended their lead when Juan Santillan booted a ball from just past midfield toward Lake Placid's goal.

Their was some miscommunication on the Green Dragon defense and the ball bounced between two defenders and into the goal for a 2-0 lead with 9:58 remaining in the first half.

"LaBelle is the strongest team we've played this season," Virkler said. "They have a lot of players that can touch the ball, especially at midfield, and they have excellent team speed.

"But mistakes like that are inexcusable."

Lake Placid came out aggressive to open the second half and sliced its deficit in half after a hand ball was called on a LaBelle player in the 18-yard box.

Green Dragon senior captain Hugo Medina took the penalty kick and ripped a shot into the lower-left corner of the goal to make it 2-1 with 18:37 remaining in the match.

"We got some of the rust off in the first half and looked more like ourselves to open the second half," said Virkler.

LaBelle wasted no time in answering, as Andrade was able to scored on a rebound shot just a minute later to restore the Cowboys two-goal advantage.

Andrade, who leads the team in scoring, earned his third hat trick of the season two minutes later with a blast from 30 yards out that sailed just inside the upper-right portion of the goal for a commanding 4-1 lead.

"Andrade is an outstanding player," said Virkler. "He has the perfect build for soccer, has good speed and is hard to take off the ball."

Lake Placid netted its second goal with under five minutes remaining when Andres Morales gained control of a rebound shot and slipped it past the Cowboy keeper to make it 4-2.

LaBelle capped the scoring in the final moments to clinch the win.

Lake Placid, which dropped to 2-9-1, is back in action against Hardee next week, and the Green Dragons are preparing for the Class 3A-District 10 tournament in Frostproof in three weeks.

"We've progressed with each match we've played this season," said Virkler. "We're doing a better job of moving the ball and getting shots on goal.

"We have a lot to build on and we want to be playing our best soccer at tournament time."

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