KIRTLAND—A goal in the 71st minute led Lutheran West to a 2-1 win over host Kirtland at Recreational Park on Monday.
Jeremy Lunka gave the Hornets a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute but the Hornets couldn’t convert on several other chances in falling to 5-5-1 overall.
“It’s disappointing, obviously,” said Kirtland coach John Valentic of the loss. “Technical skill mistakes happen, so it’s important that you capitalize on the chances you get because obviously the mistakes and mental letdowns, whatever it may be, can haunt you against teams like Lutheran West who can battle and scrap. Mistakes happen but we also had a lot of chances and a lot of possession of the ball and we didn’t capitalize.”
Lunka is now second on the team with five goals.
“Jeremy is a great finisher,” Valentic said. “He’s really composed on the ball and I’m not surprised. If he had more chances like that he’d have more goals, but a lot of times he doesn’t get them. He’s a great distributor of the ball. He was calm, cool and put it in the side where the goalie couldn’t get it.”
Lutheran West tied the game midway through the first half and took the lead for good with 8:44 left to play.
Despite the two goals allowed, Kirtland’s defense played well.
“The defense played great,” Valentic said. “Bartul Petric has been playing really well the past couple of games defensively and coming out of the back and Kyle Lutz is the anchor back there. There are things to build on.
The Hornets hoped to build off the momentum they gained in a last-minute win at Chardon on Saturday.
Obviously, that didn’t happen, but there is a lot of soccer left to play this season.
“The magic runs out a lot,” Valentic said. “I’ve been telling the guys all year, the good thing about soccer is there’s always a game soon after. We have a game on Tuesday against Cardinal and hopefully, we can exorcise some of these demons and go from there.”
