Lakeside falls, 11-8, at home

Midway through the first season of high school lacrosse in Columbia County, the Lakeside Panthers completed their final home game of the season Saturday.

"We're a first-year program, so it's hard to get anyone to travel here," Lakeside coach Ron Ritter said. "We have to play at their place first before they'll come here."

The result is a first-year schedule with only two home games. After winning their season opener 15-3 against White Knoll less than two weeks ago, the Panthers' second home game didn't go quite as well.

Starr's Mill, also in their first year of varsity competition, traveled to Lakeside on Saturday and came away with an 11-8 win.

The loss came despite Lakeside leading by two scores at four different times in the game.

"We started messing around too much with the lead," Lakeside goalkeeper Matt Greer said. "It was hot out there."

Despite the loss, Lakeside leading scorer Tim Boner brought the heat by scoring one of his three goals in the game's first minute. Boner won the opening face off, then took a pass from teammate Zach Long and found the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead.

The Panthers eventually led 7-5 in the third quarter after Lakeside attackman Cameron Ballard scored his second goal of the day. Starr's Mill proved too much, however, and outscored Lakeside 6-1 the rest of the way for the 11-8 Starr's Mill victory.

Lakeside finished the game with 33 turnovers.

"That's about 30 more than you want. Those turnovers beat us," Ritter said. "We have to fix the mistakes we made and move on from there."

Although Saturday's contest was the final home game for Lakeside, the Panthers will still play two more road games to finish the season. Lakeside next plays at Starr's Mill in Fayetteville, Ga., on March 25.