Lakers lead OAA White Division after 9-0 rout of Hazel Park

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, West Bloomfield finds itself atop the Oakland Activities Association (OAA) White Division standings.

Last week, the Lakers picked up a 9-0 shutout at home over Hazel Park on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

The win marked the Lakers’ eighth shutout of the season and snapped a two-match losing streak at home.

The Lakers currently are 11-3-2 overall and have a division record of 7-1-1, which is good for first-place in the OAA White with 22 points, one point ahead of Birmingham Seaholm and six ahead of Oxford.

The Lakers played at Ferndale on Monday, Oct. 3 and hosted Seaholm in a first-place showdown on Tuesday, Oct. 4, with both of those matches coming after press time.

West Bloomfield is thriving under first-year head coach Jason Clark, who this past spring led West Bloomfield’s girls soccer team to its very first OAA White Division championship.

The Lakers boys soccer squad is comprised of freshman goalkeeper Mitchell Hotz, junior goalkeeper Justin Wenninger, senior defenseman Richey Capriccioso and junior midfielder Nick Asker.

West Bloomfield also has junior defenseman Matt Phillips, senior forward Cory Miller and senior midfielder Joe Rosenthal.

Also on the Lakers is junior midfielder Nick Simon, sophomore defenseman Vikram Mathias, senior forward Mark Shaona and junior forward Neema Katibai.

Another senior captain for West Bloomfield is midfielder Ryan Stern, who is joined by senior midfielder Daniel Lin, senior defenseman Mark Tarnowsky and freshman midfielder David Hotz.

The rest of the Lakers’s squad includes sophomore forward Pearson Matieka, junior midfielder Nick Lesnau, senior defenseman Jordan Caiati, senior defenseman Kyle Caiati and sophomore midfielder Ben Vorce.