Lake Weir Defeats North Marion

Lake Weir sophomore forward Skyler Courtney netted four goals and sophomore midfielder Magnus Jensen scored two goals and added a pair of assists to pace the Hurricanes to an 8-0 win over North Marion on Friday night.

The convincing Class 4A-District 5 victory improved Lake Weir to 4-1 on the season.

“The boys kind of came out a little flat, but we made some adjustments and got the result we wanted,”

said Hurricanes second-year coach Jonathan Dominguez. “These games are tougher because when you play a team that’s lower in caliber then you kind of mirror the other side of the pitch. I have four returning players, three seniors and the rest are a mix of freshmen, sophomores and juniors. This is a great group of kids. Last year we had a lot of individual players, this year I feel we have more of a team.”

The loss kept Class 4A North Marion winless at 0-7.

Lake Weir dominated time of possession to open the game and struck first when Jensen utilized some deft ball-handling skills and rifled a shot past the North Marion keeper from 10 yards out to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead minutes into the match.

North Marion managed a pair of shots on goal, but Lake Weir senior goalie Michael Gonzalez displayed excellent reflexes in turning away the attempts by the Colts.

Lake Weir increased its advantage in the 14th minute as Courtney took a perfect crossing pass in front of the North Marion goal and lined a shot into the lower right-corner to make it 2-0.

North Marion, which had eight shots on goal, had a pair of excellent scoring opportunities sail wide of their mark.

Lake Weir continued to keep the pressure on the Colts defense with excellent passing and strong sideline runs. Courtney struck twice more after he gained control of the ball in a scrum in front of the goal and tapped it into the back of the net to give the Hurricanes a commanding 4-0 lead at the half.

Lake Weir came out fired up for the second half as Courtney chased down a long pass and beat a defender and the Colts keeper before blasting a shot into the open net to make it 5-0 in the opening minute.

North Marion sophomore midfielder Sergio Romo-Ruvira had a couple of good scoring chances, but one attempt sailed over the crossbar and the other was stopped by Gonzelez.

Lake Weir continued to attack, and the strategy paid off as Jensen drilled a shot past the North Marion goalie. Sophomore Eric Vogel joined in the fun with a nice goal of his own to give the Hurricanes a 7-0 lead with 24:04 left in the match.

Each coach substituted liberally in the one-sided match, and Lake Weir sophomore JaenCarlo Mejia tallied the final goal to put the Hurricanes on top by a final score of 8-0. The match was stopped with 6:24 remaining because of the mercy rule.

“It was a good win,” coach Dominguez said. “The thing is everyone underestimates Lake Weir and then they realize we can play the game.”

Lake Weir is back on the pitch on Friday when the Hurricanes travel to South Sumter to take on the Raiders.

North Marion will look to break into the winners circle on Thursday night when the Colts hit the road to take on the West Port Wolfpack.