BÖBLINGEN, Germany – Stuttgart boys soccer coach Michael Stevenson has learned not to take Lakenheath lightly.

As an assistant the past two seasons, he witnessed how the Lancers have raised their game against the Panthers – at least until halftime, when two previous encounters were either tied or had a one-goal difference.

The theme continued Friday evening at Stuttgart High School when the Panthers and Lancers met. This time, Lakenheath trailed by two after 40 minutes.

A second-half explosion, though, turned a tight match into a 6-0 Stuttgart win.

“I told our guys in the pregame, ‘They come for us. I don’t care what they do against the rest of the league. Man, they’re tough on us,’” Stevenson said. “You saw that in the first half.”

The girls match between the same two schools played out similarly.

The Panthers held a two-goal advantage at the break before dominating the second half to clinch a 7-1 victory.

“I remember being on the sideline and saying, ‘Lakenheath’s come to play.’” Stuttgart girls assistant coach Chris Kelly said.

Boys

The Panthers (2-0, 2-0) used an 11-minute stretch to turn the contest against the Lancers (1-1, 1-1) from a close match into a rout.

Cristian Ingle started that stretch with goal off a long through ball from James Sheppard in the 50th minute. The junior midfielder ended it with another Ingle score in which he directed in a free kick from Dom Tondre in the 61st minute.

The last goal completed a hat trick for Ingle, who also scored in the 21st minute.

Also finding the back of the net during that stretch was midfielder Maddox Boudreaux and Sheppard in the 51st and 55th minutes, respectively.

“It really drove the motivation up,” Ingle said of scoring the goals in quick succession. “Once you get that one in, the energy just keeps flowing and it’s real easy to start scoring again and again and again.”

Stuttgart changed tactics in the second half, going for more through balls like the one that found Ingle behind the Lakenheath defense for his second goal.

“We’re blessed with incredibly quick young people,” Stevenson said. “The gaps presented themselves.”

Not only did the Panthers go long, but they also fired from tight angles.

Stuttgart scored twice with shots near the end line. Sheppard dribbled through the heart of the Lakenheath defense in the 55th minute before ending up on the side of the 6-yard box and blasting it beyond Lakenheath goalkeeper.

Ingle’s last goal also was taken at a difficult angle.

“Everyone’s in their zone,” Ingle said. “We’re focused and take the shots.”

Stuttgart’s Christian Groves opened the scoring in the sixth minute. He headed home a ball that Boudreaux headed back into the box following a deep corner.

Losing 13 players from last year’s squad, the Lancers failed to create many chances until the final 20 minutes of the match, but by then, it was too late.

Lakenheath junior Matt Vasquez, a former Panther, was a bright spot for a team, recording eight saves.

“It’s a building process for us, but we can see the talent in there,” Lancers coach Grant Severts said. “It’s just a matter of finding our spirit, finding who we really are as a team and building upon that.”

Girls

The Panthers (1-0-1, 1-0-1) came into Friday’s match motivated.

They had blown a three-goal halftime lead a week ago in a home draw to Kaiserslautern. Stuttgart didn’t want a repeat of that against Lakenheath (1-1, 1-1).

“They were a little disappointed in the result,” Kelly said of last week’s draw with Kaiserslautern. “We knew if we could get back to full-strength, go fix some of the early-season problems that every team’s going to have, we thought we could have a better result this week.”

The one aspect Stuttgart doesn’t need to worry about is offense.

The Panthers outshot the visitors on net 13-1.

Striker Meredith Flemming, who wasn’t on the team last spring, dropped four goals and chipped in with an assist. The striker scored the first two goals of the match in the sixth and 14th minutes, and she found herself wide open in the box multiple times.

Others who scored were sophomore Sienna Ingle in the 33rd minute, captain Eva Eaton in the 60th minute and Anna Allen, who cut inside from the left wing and fired the ball so hard it still crossed the line after striking the hands of Lakenheath goalkeeper Taylor Gager in the 70th minute.

Maddie Fleming, Meredith’s sister, dished out three assists for the Panthers.

“We work really well offensively,” Meredith Fleming said. “Both of our wings, we’re all really good friends, so we all play really well with each other.”

Gager had some key saves to keep the match close early. She was one of the Lancers’ few bright spots, along with Megan Smith, whose looping shot sailed over Stuttgart goalkeeper Sophia Sirad and into the net in the 28th minute to make the match 2-1.

“I’m very proud of Taylor,” Lakenheath coach Andrew Smith said. “She commits every practice to sacrifice herself for the ball. The shots that went in were really not her fault.”

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