Darius Hamilton scored the first goal in program history, lifting the Lakers into a 1-1 halftime tie with visiting Frederick Community College. Lucas Alonso then scored what proved to be GC's first-ever game-winning goal, taking a pass from Jeronimo Valencia and beating Cougar goalkeeper Casey Cutshall to the near left corner with 16:42 remaining as the Lakers held off Frederick, 2-1.
"It's nice to see the chemistry start to come together and for the players to reap some of the benefits of their hard work," said GC head coach Jonathan Price, whose squad was shut out in each of its first two matches.
Praise Ngoma gave Frederick a 1-0 lead when he scored on a penalty kick 8:11 into the game. Hamilton answered a little over three minutes later with the unassisted equalizer from eight yards out.
"The effort was awesome," said Price, whose team is now 1-2 overall and in the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference. "Once we got behind, they buckled down and came back and scored pretty quickly after that."
Frederick finished with an 18-9 advantage in shots and 9-7 edge in shots on goal, but GC goalkeeper Wyatt Hull came through with eight saves. Hull had several spectacular stops as well as multiple saves made easier by good positioning.
"I don't have the length of other keepers," observed Hull. "I have to make sure my positioning is perfect or it could cost us a goal."
Cougar midfielder Nikolas Gusman had a pair of early, second-half scoring opportunities while the game was tied, 1-1.
Gusman unloaded a long, low shot from the left corner six minutes into the second half, but Hull was right there to make the initial stop and fall on the ball after briefly losing control. About four minutes later, Gusman sent a shot from 35 yards out just over the crossbar.
Alonso put a six-yard shot past Cutshall that he squeezed inside the left corner of the goal to put the Lakers ahead.
Now protecting a lead for the first time this season, Hull turned away shots by Ngoma and Omar Aguilar by protecting the short right and left corners, respectively. The Lakers' defense, meanwhile, came up big with 11 minutes remaining when Cougar Joshua Ames put a shot right into a wall of GC defenders on a free kick from the top of the box.
"The communication between Wyatt and the defense – JM Holland, Nathaniel Argrabrite, Kade Savage, Logan Mowen, and Anthony Diaz – was great," said Price. "They were definitely a collective unit on the back end."
GC had a couple of opportunities to put the game away in the waning minutes with an insurance goal.
Cutshall made a diving stop with 8:10 remaining on a Valencia shot to the short left corner. The Frederick goalkeeper then got away with a mistake when he was caught out of goal with 2:58 remaining only to have Hamilton's long shot go just wide of an empty net.
"We have some special guys on offense – Ben Lohr, Darius Hamilton, Lucas Alonso, Lucio Bianchi," Price said. "These are some guys who can do some exciting things. As we become a better team, the offense will come along and we'll get a lot more goals."
Frederick had the ball in a scrum in front of the GC goal as time expired. The Cougars did put the ball in the net, but clearly after the whistle, as the referees ruled after a brief conversation.
"We were all excited to get the first win in Laker history," said Hull. "The first two games were rough; I don't think we were quite in sync. This game was a good one to get us in sync."
Garrett was whistled for 16 fouls and Frederick for eight in a chippy contest that included three yellow cards handed out to the Lakers and one to the visitors.
"We have to learn how to deal with it," said Price. "If the referees are going to call things tight, we have to be able to adjust. We've allowed penalty kicks in three straight games and we have to grow defensively."
Hagerstown 1, Garrett College 0
Hagerstown, MD – Kundai Makusha scored the game's only goal last Thursday with a second-half tap-in after sustained pressure on the GC defense, including a Makusha header that Lakers goaltender Wyatt Hull turned away just seconds earlier.
"Both teams were really hustling and working hard," said Makusha, whose squad improved to 3-4-1 overall and 1-4-1 in Maryland JuCo. "We just found a way to finish."
While the Lakers (1-3, 1-3) lost, they've given up just two goals in the last two matches after yielding 15 in their first two contests.
"We've figured out some things defensively," said GC head coach Jonathan Price of his first-year program. "We even got the initial stop on that [Hagerstown goal-scoring] rush. We just didn't get it cleared."
GC netminder Wyatt Hull finished with 11 saves on 12 shots. The Lakers, however, were outshot by their hosts, 22-7.
Hagerstown netminders Braydon Blair (two saves) and Gabe Beckering (three saves) shared the shutout.