The Red Storm, which defeated Seton Catholic 4-1 this past Thursday, won their second match in a row on Tuesday afternoon, topping Lake Placid 3-0 on the Blue Bombers’ home field. The win improved Saranac Lake’s overall record to 5-8.

The Red Storm recorded one goal in the first half, before netting two in the second to earn the season sweep over the Blue Bombers. Saranac Lake defeated Lake Placid 4-1 at home on on Sept. 19.

With area bragging rights on the line Tuesday, senior Will Tromblee got the Red Storm on the scoreboard first with a goal around 12 minutes into the match. Junior Dillon Wilson assisting on the play.

Despite taking the early lead, Saranac Lake was outplayed by the Blue Bombers in the first half. Lake Placid dominated the physicality of the game early on and finished with a 6-4 edge in shots before the intermission, but couldn’t get one past the Red Storm’s sophomore goalie, Cedar Crist.

Lake Placid’s Ayden McCormick, right, shields the ball away from Saranac Lake’s Tommy Sloan during Tuesday’s game in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“(Lake) Placid played a lot stronger than I was expecting in that first half,” Saranac Lake head coach Brad Rafferty said. “I don’t know if we underestimated them or what. But, we were fortunate to come out of that first half 1-0.

Blue Bombers’ head coach Chris Mariano said it wasn’t necessarily in his team’s game plan to play with more physicality, it just happened that way.

“They just play hard every game and they play to the end,” he said. “They’re getting better, but they were just playing hard to win the game. There was no plan to get physical, but soccer is just physical.”

Lake Placid’s freshman forward Ayden McCormick had multiple scoring chances early, but his shots were either hauled in by Crist or sailed too far and out of play. Rafferty said McCormick was a handful to cover.

“He’s fast and physical,” he said. “(McCormick) gave us problems in the first and second half. He was very noticeable.”

Lake Placid’s Caleb Wylie, right, chest the ball with Saranac Lake’s Ryan Bartholomew defending him during Tuesday’s game in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Coming out of the intermission, Wilson connected on sophomore Ethan Knight’s corner kick to push the score to 2-0 at 33:09 in the second half.

“Dillon had a strong game again at left wing,” Rafferty said. “and Ethan at right wing.”

A few minutes later, Mason Stoddard, a sophomore, extended Saranac Lake’s lead to 3-0 when he riffled a shot to the right corner of the net. Fellow sophomore Zach McCarthy recorded an assist on the play.

“We weren’t happy with that first half and I’ll kind of leave it at that,” Rafferty said. “We really picked up and played well in the second. We finished what we needed to. There was a lot of hustle.”

While the Red Storm dominated play in the second half — outshooting Lake Placid 4-2 — they were held to just two goals because of a strong defensive effort from the Blue Bombers.

Saranac Lake’s Mik Denkenberger makes a play on the ball during Tuesday’s game in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“Their defense was much improved,” Mariano said. “They won a lot of (50/50) balls and they played well as a team.”

Lake Placid’s junior sweeper Seb Cecunjanin made life difficult for the Red Storm offense. He came away with multiple defensive stops to keep the Blue Bombers alive.

“Anytime we’d get through their backfield, he was usually there to bail them out,” Rafferty said. “He’s a hard one to get around.”

While trailing by three, Cecunjanin nearly scored his team’s first goal when he sent a direct kick to the Saranac Lake net forcing Crist to make a leaping save to earn his first career shutout.

“(Crist has) only played a couple of games in goal and he had a good showing,” Rafferty said.

Saranac Lake’s Gus Earl makes a play on the ball during Tuesday’s game in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

The sophomore goalkeeper finished with seven saves and Lake Placid’s goalie Gunner Sheffield, a junior, had six stops.

The Blue Bombers fell to 1-11-0 overall. The team will play its final game of the regular season on Monday against the Seton Catholic Knights.

The Saranac Lake boys are slated to host Northern Adirondack today at 4 p.m. Following that contest, the Red Storm will have two more games before wrapping up the season.