McCurry scores late, but Lions fall just short to DeSoto

The Lansing boys’ soccer team fell behind in the first half and couldn’t recover, falling 2-1 to DeSoto for their first loss of the season on Thursday night.

Jake McCurry scored his third goal of the year with about six minutes remaining to put the Lions (1-1-1) on the board, and although that wasn’t enough for the win, head coach Randy Brown said his team showed promise by at least responding at the end. He said their energy picked up toward the end of the contest, and if they’d played like that for the duration, they might’ve gotten a win.

“I think the key thing is that we were able to respond with six minutes to go,” Brown said. “If we had not responded, then that would’ve been a very poor showing on our part against this team.”

The game was delayed nearly an hour due to lightning, and neither team allowed much offense on the slippery track early on. The Wildcats finally broke through with less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half, when a handball by Lansing in their own box gave DeSoto a penalty kick. Greg Henning took advantage but barely, as his PK hit the left post and went in to make it 1-0.

“Up to that point in time, both sides were doing well. There weren’t a lot of shot on goal,” Brown said. “But after that goal I thought we were a little listless.. ... I thought we were a little fortunate to end the half only down 1-0.

“The standout in the first half was AJ Martinez playing defense,” Brown also said. “And Nick Fodness ... he was sweeping the ball very well to keep them away from out goal.”

Less than five minutes into the second half, the Wildcats were the benefactor of good fortune when Conner Berg pulled up for a shot to the right side of the net from about 30 yards away, and it was deflected back to the left side while Lansing goalkeeper Briscoe Elliott sprinted toward where the ball had originally been going. That gave DeSoto a 2-0 cushion, and that would be all they’d need.

“We were just unfortunate that they got the goal,” Brown said.

The Lansing defense held firm afterward, though. Elliott made a pair of saves in the second half after first-half goalkeeper Nate Runyon was moved to the midfield, as he was on Tuesday.

“Jake Nye played outstanding throughout the game defensively,” Brown said. “They have a guy named Jordan Riffle, he’s a track star ... and Jake Nye was just shutting him down without much of a problem.”

Chris Rathjen was knocked out of the game for about 15 minutes in the second half after a head-to-head collision with a DeSoto player, but he returned late in the game to set up Lansing’s goal on a through ball to McCurry.

“He’s OK...” Brown said of Rathjen. “He just had to sit out for a little bit.”

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