<\/p>\n
Five games into the season, Lakewood was 4-0 and sitting pretty in first, while Poly was a surprising 2-0-2 after a scoreless tie with Millikan. <\/span>Two games later and the Lancers had their second consecutive blowout loss (they fell 4-0 to Wilson previously), as Poly picked up their second straight win, 5-0 on the Lancers’ home field. <\/span>Poly was helped along by Jazmine Rhodes’ hat trick and assist. <\/span>Lakewood now sits in third, while Poly is on top at 4-0-2.<\/p>\n After a week-long layoff due to the rain, the question seemed to be who would shake the rust off quicker, and there was no doubt early on that it was the Rabbits. <\/span>“It was a cabin fever explosion,” said Poly coach Teri Collins, who said her team missed playing. <\/span>“You can only practice in the room between the locker room and the gym so many times.” <\/span>There’s no way Poly’s Sam Shier could have practiced the game’s first goal indoors\u2014she smacked a 40-yarder over the Lancers’ keeper just ten minutes in. <\/span>Poly kept pushing, peppering the Lancers’ frame with tries, as shots from Alexis Leyba and Ebonie Buenrostro sailed a little high. <\/span>Taylor-Erin Carter put a corner on target for Rhodes in the 21st\u2014it looked like it was bending into the goal, but a Lancer defender was there to head it out. <\/span>The ricochet was towards Rhodes, who headed it in on a bounce to make it 2-0, which was the score at half. <\/span><\/p>\n Early in the second, Rhodes game out on a mission, taking the ball at midfield and then streaking down the right sideline, into the Lakewood box, where she punched it in from point-blank range. <\/span>She added a point for an assist six minutes later on a perfect cross to Celeste Dominguez, then sealed the hat trick on another solo effort, giving her a foot or a head in four of Poly’s five goals. <\/span>“Confidence was definitely the key,” she said when asked what spurred her performance. <\/span>“I’m usually not a shot-taker, but when you step in with confidence, something relaxes in you.”<\/p>\n Poly won the vast majority of 50\/50 balls and headers, and generally looked much sharper than the Lancers, who never really got a push towards the Poly side even towards the end of the game. <\/span>Lakewood coach Scott Manson sounded optimistic about the second half of league (which starts today) when speaking with his team after the game, and wrote off the lopsided loss as hopefully a standalone performance. <\/span>“It was a lot of things,” he said. <\/span>“We didn’t get games in last week, but I don’t want to blame it on that\u2014everyone had that. <\/span>We’re still relying on young kids.”<\/p>\n Lakewood will have plenty of chance to get back in rhythm this week, with a game today against Compton, a must-win against Millikan on Thursday, and a makeup game with Cabrillo on Saturday. <\/span>Poly will visit Jordan on Tuesday before visiting arch-foes Wilson on Thursday, for another edition of one of the city’s most enjoyable rivalries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a promising 4-0 start, it was another big loss for the Lancers, this time thanks to a hat trick from Poly’s Jazmine 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