By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
On Tuesday afternoon the Merrill boys soccer team traveled to Lakeland for their season opener against the T-Birds. The Jays would fall behind early with Lakeland scoring the first goal, however Merrill would respond with four goals of their own to take the 4-1 win.
In the 27th minute of the game Lakeland would find the back of the Merrill net to take a 1-0 lead on the Jays. It took Merrill until the second half to respond, however a long shot off the left leg of Hunter Wallace would find the goal for Merrill as they tied the game at 1-1 in the 49th minute.
Later in the game Wallace would hit a strike toward the Lakeland goal that would get deflected by the goalie, but Merrill’s Reid Hojan would be right there to clean it up as he put the ball in the net to give Merrill the lead. In the 79th minute Merrill would extend their lead with a cross from Jared Heller to Brendan Root who would settle the ball at his feet before ripping a shot past the keeper to give Merrill a 3-1 lead. A few minutes later Heller would give another beautiful cross pass, this time to Wes McIntyre who would head the ball into the goal for Merrill’s fourth and final goal of the game.
The Merrill soccer team will have their home opener tonight at Jay Stadium against Antigo, with the game getting started at 7p.m.