Lakeland Soccer to Rely on Experience This Season

The Lakeland soccer team may have one of the most experienced collections of players in Oakland County this year. Now it’s up to the Eagles to make that experience translate on the field.

With 16 players back, the Eagles expect to be deep and talented—but that's nothing new for a team that annually finishes in one of the top two spots in the KLAA North Division. Lakeland expects to be a favorite again this year under head coach Mark Janssen, who is excited about the team’s potential.

“I have some key starters back from last year, and we will go as far as they take us,” Janssen said. “We have a deep team, and I think that will help us.”

Top returning players from last year's 12-5-6 season include senior midfielder Connor Carrigan and senior midfielder Andrew Benner. The pair can help control the tempo in the middle of the field and have experience both on the attack and defending the opposition.

Senior fullback Tom Keemenu is a quick and physical presence on the back line for the Eagles and will support expected starting goalie Daniel Foote.

Up front, senior Troy Baerston will be counted on for scoring and speed, and as a basketball player he can also use his height to find the back of the net off headers. Carrigan also has a strong scoring touch, and those two should pick up the slack lost by the graduation of the team’s top offensive players.

Janssen has enjoyed the move to divisional play in the KLAA, as the Eagles have built a strong rivalry with Walled Lake Northern, which traditionally is one of the teams competing with Lakeland for a title.

“We just seem to have a knack to play them to a tie game or a one-goal score,” Janssen said. “It’s a lot of fun, and because it’s a natural rivalry, both teams get pretty excited for it.”

Last year, Lakeland and Walled Lake Northern played each other in the KLAA Lakes Conference semifinal, won by Northern after the sudden-death overtime period ended in a tie.

“That game was a classic that was finally settled on penalty kicks,” Janssen said. “It’s a shame someone had to lose.”

The Eagles play Walled Lake Northern on Sept. 8 and 27.

Lakeland will be challenged early on in the season. Last weekend the team played a tournament in Holt to kick off the season. This weekend Lakeland will compete at North Farmington’s soccer invitational.

“We’ll see how good we are or what works needs to be done after this tournament,” Janssen said. “There will be some very good teams here that we can measure ourselves against.”