Indians Win Fourth Straight

Indians Win Fourth Straight
Lee Adams/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – The ICC men's soccer team had a frustration task against Meridian's defensive game plan on Wednesday, but were able to pick up their fourth consecutive win by defeated the Eagles 3-2.

"We won, but we're not super excited about it," said Coach Mike Sullivan. "We missed eight million shots, it was kind of frustrating."

The Indians (9-1, 2-1) defeated Meridian 4-2 earlier this season, so they knew it would be frustrating facing the Eagles' 1-1-8 formation. With the Eagles using this formation, the Indians would have to deal with eight players stacked in the box pretty much the entire game.

"They packed it in on us on the defensive side," said Sullivan. "That makes it hard on us but it's a good game plan. We scored enough goals to get the win and now we'll move on to the next one and be happy about that."

Scoring enough goals hasn't seemed to be an issue for the Indians, as they have scored 4 or more goals in six of their ten games this season. One reason for the Indians offense success is Anthony Fernandez (New Albany) scoring 15- goals so far. However, the Eagles played tight defense on Fernandez, which opened the door for Blake Lashlee (Olive Branch).

"Every time you looked up at him (Fernandez) he was pretty much covered by three green shirts," said Sullivan. "He did a good job getting the ball to Blake a couple of times."

After Meridian took an early lead, Lashlee found the net twice in the first half, to give the Indians a 2-1 lead at the break. Lashlee added another goal late in the second half to give the Indians a 3-1 lead and earning himself his first Hat Trick.

"He (Lashlee) had a big game," said Sullivan. "He's been playing great for a freshman in this league and we are excited that he's playing for us."

Meridian was able to score a goal in the final millisecond of the game, but the Indians were able to pick up the win.

The Indians travel to Bethel Friday for their final non-division game before playing five straight North Division opponents to close out the regular season.

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