Blanked for first time this year, Winamac falls to Lakeland Christian in sectional semis

Ulerick on seniors: ‘Like a second set of sons’

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

ARGOS — Zaiden Miller and Luke Clemens each scored a goal to lead the Lakeland Christian boys soccer team to a 2-0 win over Winamac in a Class 1A, Sectional 36 semifinal at Argos’ Eugene Snyder Field Thursday.

Lakeland Christian notched their second shutout on as many nights – they blanked Culver Wednesday – and improved to 11-5-2. They will play Argos in the sectional final at 7 p.m. Saturday. The host Dragons beat North Miami 6-0 in the other semifinal.

Winamac finished 8-4-2. They were seeking their first sectional title since 2001.

They lost despite having an 8-6 advantage in shots on goal. It was the first time Winamac had been shut out all season.

“We had some good opportunities for sure,” Winamac coach Cullen Ulerick said. “It was ones that normally they go in for us. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that tonight. It’s not that we didn’t have good shots. It’s not that we didn’t get good looks. It just didn’t go our way. Unfortunately, they were just able to get a touch on it a little bit or get a deflection or knock it clean completely.”

Miller’s goal came on a shot from 38 yards away with 2:23 left in the half. It sailed over the head of goalkeeper Hutch Martin and underneath the crossbar.

Clemens, a freshman, scored his 24th goal came on a run through the right side of the pitch. He evaded several defenders and fired a shot past Martin.

Still, Ulerick praised his defenders. Lakeland Christian scored three goals in two games this season. They scored 59 goals in their other 16 games.

“They’re fast, but they got an open look,” Ulerick said. “I’m not going to say if they were anything that we couldn’t stop. Our defense played strong. We played a very good game. They got a couple that squeaked through. The one in my opinion was just a lucky roll. And then the other one was just a case of we got ahead of ourselves and didn’t stay in position. I’m not going to say it’s their speed that beat us; it’s just they got a good touch (and) we didn’t get lucky enough to get that touch.”

Winamac went 18-9-4 the last two years. From 2022-24, they were 13-36.

Ulerick took over as interim coach last year and was hired as the permanent coach this year. Ulerick called seniors Rylan Craig, Lluvia De La Cruz, Jaybin Hines, Asher Jones, Isaac Kruzick, Eli Overmyer, Logan Schambers and Sean Stark “like a second set of sons.” Stark is Winamac’s all-time leading goal scorer, and Hines is Winamac’s all-time leader in assists.

His postgame message afterwards was to try to bring more players into the program.

“We’ve still got a good future,” Ulerick said. “We’ve got to keep our numbers up. Like I just told them there in our meeting, we’ve got to make sure we’re recruiting some more kids. We’ve got to keep our numbers up, so we have that ability to go and keep building and getting stronger every year.”