Attack force

By Michael Ashcraft --

It's impressive the striking capabilities that Coach Hosea Ashcraft has put together for Lighthouse Christian Academy's second year of restored soccer.

The Saints showed Monday that they can string together a series of passes for a quick vertical strike to punch the net -- scoring twice against Beacon Hill Classical Academy of Camarillo.

Unfortunately, the defense was in the Christmas spirit.

They were giving gifts in the form of goals right, left and center. Had they not centered the ball to their opponents in front of goal, had they not lost the goalside position time after time, had they marked up, had they protected against the give-and-go, the score might have been 2-1.

Instead, it was 2-8.

Merry Christmas, Beacon Hill.

In their third game of the season, LCA is showing progress and persistent deficiency.

Sophomore Andrew Morales opened the scoring on ball batted lamely out of the danger zone. Running on it and beating a sleepy defender, Andrew smartly slotted on the left post with a fireball that not even the diving goalie could stop.

It was 1-0.

Twenty minutes later, senior Owen Toomey tore down the right and crossed a ball for fellow senior Christian Boatwright, who, marked by two defenders, managed to kick into the goal.

But the Lighthouse defense committed howlers, and it was 2-4 at half.

In the second half, Lighthouse mounted credible attacks, but Beacon Hill had tightened up its defense. Meanwhile, Lighthouse continued to hemorrhage goals. Only one of the Beacon Hill's was impressive, an arching cross that a forward deflected off his outer sole behind him as he was running. It went into the net.

Quite an impressive goal, well deserved.

With its formidable attacking squad, the Lighthouse could potentially be a contender for playoffs, if only they can tighten up their defense. LCA has 1 win and 2 losses so far this season.

Full disclosure: The writer of this article is the father of Coach Hosea for Lighthouse. He teaches journalism for LCA.