After falling in penalty kicks on Monday night the Boiling Springs boys soccer team rebounded with a victory over Nation Ford winning 3-2 in penalty kicks on Wednesday night to finish their first half of region play with a 2-2 record.
"Soccer is an interesting game and it's hard to play from behind but this team has been behind every game this year and come back to have chances to win or tie the games," said Bulldogs head coach Jack Underwood. "This is the first competitive game we've started out without giving up an early goal but that's common in high school soccer. We played our game and had our chances early but finished it off in penalty kicks and got the win. We look to keep this play up throughout the rest of region play." Both teams battled in a game of possession throughout regulation with Boiling Springs getting some counter opportunities in the first half while their biggest play came late in the second half as they got a great look at the goal but an impressive save by the Falcons goalkeeper kept the Bulldogs off the board. While the Bulldogs were attacking the Falcons goal Nation Ford attempted some counters themselves but were unable to find the back of the net thanks to some impressive play by Bulldogs goalie Jayce Lamb who registered nine saves during regulation play. While it was impressive, Lamb saved his best performance for last. After two five minutes overtime halves resulted no goals for either team it led to penalty kicks to decide the winner. Nation Ford was the first team up and a shot to left of the goal was deflected by Bulldogs goalie Jayce Lamb to give Boiling Springs an early advantage. Yonathan Gonzalez gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead when he found the back of the net on the Bulldogs first penalty kick. Lamb almost made it two saves in a row but the referee ruled he left early allowing the Nation Ford shooter a second chance which he took advantage of to tie the game at 1-1. The Falcons took a 2-1 lead on their next shot as the Bulldogs were unable to find the net on two straight shots. With the Bulldogs trailing 2-1 Lamb came up big not allowing Nation Ford to score on two straight penalty kicks which Coach Underwood said didn't surprise him in the least bit. "Jayce is probably arguably the best goalkeeper in the state of South Carolina," said Underwood. "His understanding of the game and his leadership is unbelievable which is one of the biggest attributes that he has and while he's a great goalkeeper he is a great leader in organizing our back line throughout the game. That attribute is something you don't see often in high school, that's things you see more from college and professional players." While Lamb was able to hold the Falcons out of the goal it was up to their offense to get on the board themselves. Peyton Pressley found the back of the net to tie the game for the Bulldogs at 2-2 and after Lamb made his second consecutive stop the game down to the Bulldogs leading scorer sophomore Christian Gonzalez-Calihua. As Gonzalez-Calihua made his way toward the goal he fired a shot to the upper left side of the net that whizzed past the goalkeeper who dove to the left side but was unable to get to the ball giving the Bulldogs the victory. "Penalty kicks are very mental and difficult," said Underwood. "Christian has one of our strongest legs on our team and so I try to keep the pressure low on our players because I know after 35 years of coaching anything can happen on a penalty kick." Boiling Springs will return to action next Tuesday when they travel to Gaffney as they begin the second half of their region schedule. Comments are closed.
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