MORROW, Ga. – In one of the wildest games in Clayton State (0-2, 0-0 PBC) history, the Lakers dropped a heartbreaking 5-4 decision to Barry (2-0, 0-0 SSC) in an NCAA Division II men's soccer game on Saturday, September 3.
 
In a game that featured three penalty kicks, four yellow cards and a pair of red cards, the teams got into it right away. Just 1:13 into the contest the Buccaneers would be flagged for a foul in the box, leading to junior midfielder Ryan King (County Durham, England) taking the first PK of the night. He would drill that to the back right corner of the goal for a 1-0 Clayton State advantage.
 
Just over 14 minutes later, it would be the Bucs that would benefit from a similar foul. Thomas Coombes stepped up and planted the tying goal into the lower left of the net at the 15:24 mark off of that infraction. Barry would not stop there as Hanno Antoni converted off a cross from Jerrell Cato for the go-ahead goal at 17:52.
 
Ten minutes later they would make it a two goal margin when Nyle Patel drove up the right side and found the back left corner of the net at 27:43. It would then be the Lakers turn as freshman midfielder Shams Elakabawy (Amsterdam, Holland) picked up the assist on a goal by graduate forward Iain Smith (Suwanee, Ga.) at 39:42.
 
It would be Smith that would then setup the tying goal as he fed King from deep center of the field. King would then bang it in off of the post at the 41:36 mark. The teams would then take that 3-3 deadlock to the half.
 
Just eight minutes into the second half, Coombes would strike again as he delivered an unassisted score at 53:03 to make it 4-3. Over the next 30 minutes the scoring would die down but the intensity would pick up as two yellow and two red cards were issued in the midst of multiple fouls.
 
Coming out of that stretch, Francisco Aguirre would make it 5-3 as he drove in close on the left side before making a move and burying the ball into the back right of the net. Undaunted, the Lakers came right back down the field.
 
Junior defender Jesse Parsons (Hertfordshire, England) slammed a shot off of the post that caromed out to Smith. He then headed it into the right corner for a hat trick that got the Lakers to within 5-4 with just 3:23 remaining. From there, however, the Bucs' defense would step up and hang on for the narrow one goal victory.
 
Coombes led the way for Barry with a pair of goals while Patel, Antoni and Aguirre each notched solo scores. Cato recorded the only assist and Michael Scheraldi went the distance in net. He would make one save and allow all four scores to move to 1-0 on the year.
 
For the Lakers, King scored his first three goals for the program and was joined by Smith with his first goal of the year. Smith and Elakabawy would also each add an assist as did Parsons. In net, senior goalkeeper Oliver Pannell (Nottingham, England) played all 90 minutes, allowing five goals and making six saves to fall to 0-2.
 
The Lakers are now off until beginning a two game road trip to the State of Florida on Friday, September 9. That day they will play Tampa at 7 p.m. followed by Eckerd at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 11.
 
NOTES
With three penalty kicks, this is the first such game in at least the last 13 seasons for the Lakers … the nine combined goals ranks in a tie for the fourth most in the program's 25 year history … the record is 12 in an 11-1 loss at Lander on September 20, 1997 … the last time a Laker team was part of a nine goal game was October 16, 2007, posting an 8-1 win over North Greenville at Laker Field … two years prior on October 26, 2005, they blanked NGU 9-0 … Ryan King played his first game against Barry after playing for the Bucs in 2013.