Pines falls victim to undefeated Lakeland team

The Northland Pines varsity soccer team opened its week of road Great Northern Conference games at Lakeland Tuesday night and fell in a 6-1 game inside T-Bird country. 

The Eagles fell into the trap of an undefeated Lakeland team and couldn’t get much going. The team took its third loss of the conference season. That puts them at 2-3 in GNC play, and 6-3-2 overall. 

Lakeland got its first goal in the second minute, where the T-Birds fought for possession deep in Pines’ defensive zone. They won that possession, and a lefty shot into the upper left corner put the Eagles behind early. 

Another goal by the home team came in the 16th minute off a floating corner kick, and a header into the back of the net put the T-Birds up 2-0. 

“Lakeland is a very good soccer team with most of its roster being seniors. They were very skilled at pressuring the defense,” said Northland Pines coach Jamie Remme. “We started off a little slow, which turned into a two-goal deficit pretty early in the game.”

The T-Birds' offensive attack slowed down and scored twice more in the first half, taking a 4-0 lead into halftime. 

“We made some adjustments, which helped and resulted in a score of 4–0 at halftime,” stated Remme. 

Pines finally broke the ice in the 52nd minute, as a deep pass by Tyler Vojta was placed behind Lakeland’s final line of defense, and Milan Chobanov beat Lakeland’s keeper from outside the 18-yard box as he crept up out of the goal. That made it a 4-1 game. 

Lakeland then scored two late second-half goals to push the lead back up to five. 

Remme said the team remained composed throughout the night despite getting rattled early with the two quick goals. The two teams will battle in Eagle River in October for the second matchup of the season. 

“I am very happy with how the boys kept their attitude up and maintained a competitive composure throughout the game. We are looking forward to another opportunity to play them at home later in October,” explained Remme. 

Northland Pines is back on the road this evening for a game at Mossinee that will start at 6 p.m. The two teams faced off Sept. 2 in Eagle River, which resulted in a 4-2 win for Mosinee.