Boys soccer team splits close matches

(Above) The Lions topped Belmond-Klemme 3-2 in soccer action Monday, April 18.  Pictured for the Lions is (L-R): Andrew Korenberg (1), Adrian Ros (20 and Matt Moore (7). -Photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

The Clear Lake boys soccer team split a pair of close matches last week.  The Lions captured an overtime win against Belmond-Klemme on Monday, but were downed by a late goal scored by Hampton-Dumont Thursday, April 21. The Lions are now 2-3 overall. Soccer fans can catch the Lions at home Friday against Mason City

CL 3, Belmond-Klemme 2

The Lions and Belmond-Klemme provided Clear Lake soccer fans with an exciting match to watch Monday night.  A back-and-forth first half eventually went in the Broncos’ favor when they were able to capitalize on having the wind to their back.  The visitor went ahead 1-0 about halfway through the first period and the score held until the break.

The Lions came out strong in the second half, passing and moving together, and were able to find the back of the net early on.  Travaughn Luyobya, assisted by Tino Velasquez, evened the score at 1-1. 

The second half continued to be a see-saw battle, with Clear Lake having a lot of looks at goal but the Lions couldn’t find the back of the net.  

Kinnick Clabaugh was able to break the 1-1 deadlock with a nice goal from the center of the area with five-minutes left in the game. About one-minute later, B-K was able to get a break away and chipped the tying goal over goalkeeper Hunter Trenary.

The Lions had an  opportunity to win the game as time expired. Adrian Ros was fouled in the penalty area, but his penalty shot was saved by the B-K goalkeeper and the teams went to OT.

Overtime was also evenly matched, but Clear Lake came out on top seven-minutes into OT when Luyobya headed a pass over the defender to Ros, who put away the game winner. 

“We had good work from our midfields and forwards in pressing offensively and getting a lot of shots on goal,” said Coach Zach Hall.  “Our defense gets better and more cohesive as a unit every game.”

H-D 2, CL 1

The Lions finally had a beautiful night for soccer at Hampton Thursday.  Clear Lake got on the scoreboard first at the 10-minute mark when Ben Wolfe whipped a cross in and bounced off a couple of players before placing a kick into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.

H-D was able to tie it up on a bouncing ball in the Lions’ box with about 10 minutes remaining in the half and the teams went to halftime at 1-1.

“In the second half we came out slow and reactive, instead of keeping up the aggressive play from the first half,” said Coach Hall.  “We allowed H-D to control the middle of the field and they kept us on our heels.”

The Bulldogs were able to get the go ahead goal with 17-minutes remaining in the game.

The Lions made a good push the last 10 minutes to score the equalizer, but could find the back of the net and lost 2-1.