A second half surge of offense propelled the Lehman Lobos to a 4-2 comeback victory over their crosstown rivals, the Hays Rebels, Tuesday night at Jack C. Hays Stadium.
Momentum was in Lehman’s favor to begin the first half. They were controlling the ball, playing solid defense and consistently able to get shots. However, these shots time and time again were just a tad off-target.
After one of Lehman’s shot hit the post, and the rebound shot by junior forward Mark Piedra nailed the crossbar, it was beginning to feel like it just wasn’t Lehman’s night.
This feeling was compounded after an objectively terrible crossing pass that went 30 yards backwards, landed in the lap of Rebels senior defender Joemi Daniels, who dribbled in 20 yards untouched and nailed a beautiful top right corner shot from 30 yards out.
This theme continued, as the Lobos immediately worked the ball into scoring position, only to suffer another miss that seemed only inches from going in.
“First half we just weren’t quite putting it together ... The unfortunate bounce, unlucky bounce not in our direction has been a heel for us all year long. Just not getting the right bounce at the right time.”
Brad Baker, Lehman head coach
Then with 33 seconds left, junior defenseman Fisher Russell dropped a beautiful assist that landed at the feet of Piedra who, after missing three close shots early, nailed the first goal of the night for the Lobos to tie the score going into the half.
The second half began in opposite fashion from the first, with Hays now knocking on Lehman’s door with consistent shots only barely missing.
Then with 33 minutes left to play, mayhem ensued.
Lehman head coach Brad Baker said that the halftime speech literally was to play the ball to the forwards’ feet, and this is exactly what happened.
After a strong defensive stand, sophomore forward Eric Guadarrama used his speed and the space the defense gave him to give the Lobos their first lead of the game.
“I saw my defender was giving me a little space, so I just took the space and shot,” said Guadarrama.
Not 30 seconds later, the 5’1” forward scored yet again off a header from another perfectly executed assist, this time from sophomore defender Alejandro Mantilla.
The script was now completely flipped and Hays was unable to get anything legitimate going offensively.
With 24 minutes remaining, Piedra earned his second goal of the night off an assist from senior Penniel Rodas to extend the score to 4-1.
Although the score was beginning to get out of hand, both teams continued to push the ball offensively.
A perfectly placed outlet pass from Rebels keeper Evan Barker, leads to a Rebel shot on goal, rebound and score from senior midfielder Caleb Barksdale, closing the gap to 4-2 with 8:32 left to play.
Both teams then continued to consistently get looks at the goal, but were unable to capitalize.
“It’s a crosstown rivalry that we hardly get the better of,” Baker said. “So it’s always nice for these kids to win one of these huge rivalries.”
