MILLBURY — Travis Merrill scored five goals to lead the Lake boys soccer team to a 6-0 win over Genoa at home on Wednesday.
“I felt great,” Merrill said. “I give credit to my teammates. They were getting me the ball. I was having a rough week in practice, but they had confidence in me, and it led to today.
“Five goals is a great way to start the year.”
Merrill, who led the Flyers with 24 goals last year, didn’t find the net in the team’s season-opening win over Evergreen. He more than made up for it against Genoa, finishing just one goal shy of matching the single-game school record previously set by Kaiden Reed (2021) and Mike Szymanski (2017).
“He played great,” Lake head coach Brian Reed said. “He had nine shots and five goals. That’s a pretty good percentage.”
Merrill got Lake on the board just over three minutes in on an assist from Greyson Reed.
Just over a minute later, Genoa had a chance to tie, but a direct kick sailed high. Nine minutes after that, they had a similar opportunity, but Lake’s goalkeeper, Mitchell Maguire, made a diving save to his left.
Merrill then added his second and third goals, the first of which came with 15:11 left in the half in unassisted fashion. He added the other with 7:19 remaining on a second-chance opportunity off a rebound.
“I thought we played okay,” Reed said. “It wasn’t our best game, but (in a game like this against a rival in Genoa), the nerves always come out. You play with a lot of emotion in this game, so I thought we settled in and played. I still think there’s room for improvement.”
Merrill eliminated any hope Genoa had for staying in the game over a two-minute stretch in the second half, securing goals with 30:31 and 28:47 remaining.
“We were moving the ball and defending everyone,” Merrill said. “It was a great team win, and we’re looking forward to building off it for the rest of the year.”
Mason Sneed scored Lake’s sixth goal less than a minute after that. Sneed and Jonathan Specht tallied one assist apiece for Lake.
Maguire totaled four saves, including the one early in the first half.
“I thought defensively we played pretty good,” Reed said. “Mitchell had a great save there. Overall, I thought we played well.”
Next up for Lake will be a road matchup at Maumee Valley on Saturday.
