GREENE COUNTY
The Lake Oconee Academy boys soccer team is currently on a three-game winning streak since its loss to Georgia Military Prep a few weeks ago, with its most recent victory coming in dominant fashion against Washington-Wilkes last Friday evening.
The Titans have outscored opponents 22-0 over its last three matches, including their 6-0 win over the Tigers this past Friday.
Head coach Conner Domaleski’s squad started the game off controlling most of the possession and pressed high up the pitch after losing a ball to try and gain possession back.
Offensively, the Titans had many opportunities down the sidelines early on, but wingers Palmer Larkin and Chris Arrue couldn’t find the back of the net on their attempts.
The team’s first goal came near the 25-minute mark when junior Noah Watson ripped a shot from outside the 18-yard box. The ball came in powerful enough that the Tigers’ goalkeeper struggled to react, and the low shot found the back of the net for the Titans’ first goal of the game.
It was the only goal of the first half from either side, but Lake Oconee Academy changed that in the second half.
The Titans scored a total of five goals in the next 40 minutes, all of which came from a wide variety of players on the pitch. Midfielders Jefferson Amaya and Leonardo Perez helped create opportunities for the team’s attacking forwards, and it was too much for the Washington-Wilkes’ back line to handle.
The few opportunities the Tigers had to counterattack were quickly snuffed out by Titans’ keeper Knox van Mol.
He had enough awareness to determine whether to come up on through balls or allow his defenders to make a play, all while communicating with everyone on the pitch. Van Mol has kept six clean sheets on the season so far, and three of those have come in the last three matches.
As a team, Lake Oconee Academy is ranked fourth overall in Class A Division II and sits atop the Region 8 standings with a 4-1 area record. The Titans have scored 64 goals across 14 matches while only giving up seven on defense.
Dominating on both ends of the field has propelled the Titans’ program to becoming one of the state’s best soccer programs, and Domaleski hopes his squad can continue this level of play as the team finishes up the regular season.
The Titans finished up their schedule by hosting the Aquinas Fighting Irish and now head into postseason play.
Domaleski’s squad consists of most of the players it had during last year’s playoff run that ended in the Final Four, so the team will be even more hungry to get back there once the postseason starts in the next few weeks.