De Queen soccer wins close ones at Lakeside

The rematch was better than the previous outing, but the same team prevailed.

Carlos Hernandez' goal from top of the box in the penultimate minute lifted De Queen over Lakeside 4-3 Tuesday in a 5A-South soccer opener matching last year's Class 5A finalists.

"When the bottom line gets there, we're under two minutes and we have to step up and at least take them to (penalty kicks)," Lakeside coach Craig Moses said. "We had an opportunity there, and we have to get tougher. That's the bottom line. We have to get tougher."

With senior goalkeeper Alex Bratton making seven crucial saves, Lakeside (5-5-1, 0-1) had a chance to force a shootout after Grant Gartner's goal in the 69th minute. Spencer Plumley found Gartner in the middle of the box, the senior dribbling once to his right and finding the upper-right corner of the goal.

"That was a great goal, and I've been telling them to shoot all year," Moses said. "Finally he strikes it, and you can see what he does when he shoots the ball. He's a dangerous player when he shoots the ball."

As in De Queen's 4-1 title-game victory, Lakeside had a one-goal lead at halftime, this time rallying after Estiven Garcia volleyed home a long ball by Leonardo Dominguez less than two minutes into the game.

In the 17th minute, Isaac Bodemann fed a through ball to Plumley for a breakaway, Plumley beating the Leopard keeper to the right side while leaning left. In the 36th minute, Bodemann headed a ball to an open Plumley, who buried it beyond the far post for a 2-1 lead.

"They played outstanding, I thought," Moses said. "They got a little winded, but their play is outstanding. We've got to have that out of them the rest of the year, the whole way through."

Lakeside appealed for two first-half penalty kicks that weren't awarded, once when a De Queen defender approved to shove Bodemann in the back. Another time, De Queen (11-1 overall) appeared to commit a handball in the box one minute before Plumley's second goal.

"We knew Lakeside was going to be good, but we just could never match their intensity," De Queen coach Steven Sloan said. "I thought they outplayed us. They played really well and kept control of the ball there, especially in the first half. I think after the first goal, we acted a little stupid. We got relaxed and didn't keep up our intensity like we should have."

De Queen tied it 2-2 in the 47th minute, Garcia from David Gomez, and Hugo Martinez scored six minutes later on a loose ball just inside the box.

De Queen outshot Lakeside 34-12.

"The more shots you take, you think you have a better chance," said Sloan, a state champion five of the past six seasons. "We're going to have to improve on making those shots. If you're going to be taking at least 30, you better be putting in more than four. We're just not playing really well right now, and Lakeside, hat's off to them. They outplayed us tonight."

Lakeside travels to Hope on Thursday before getting next week off for spring break.

Girls: De Queen, 1-0

The Lakeside Lady Rams' 16-game conference streak ended with a 1-0 loss to De Queen. In both teams' conference opener, De Queen improved to 7-5 and Lakeside dropped to 2-8.

"We just came off a two-week span of playing nine games, and this weekend we played four games in 48 hours, so we're kind of dead legwise," said Lakeside coach Allison Frizzell, dropping her first conference game. "So we're recovering from those two weeks. We just let up for one play, and that was it. That one play was the difference in that game."

Loida Corranza scored in the 55th minute, collecting a loose ball just outside of the box and her long-range shot hitting off the right post and in.

"I didn't think it went in," De Queen coach Erik Smith said. "I turned away. I thought it was just a shot on goal. I actually put it down as an SOG, and the center (referee) called for it. So I was like, 'All right!'"

De Queen controlled most of the attack for the final three quarters, Lakeside's best chance coming on senior Caroline Cole's free kick from about 25 yards out in the 73rd minute. The shot rattled the right, goalkeeper Lucee Lugo pouncing on the rebound.

"We told her to go ahead and shoot that, and she has the leg strength, too," Frizzell said. "It just fell a little bit off, and you saw the goalie had to make a saving catch. It was a good shot from the spot."

Lugo made three saves in preserving the shutout.

Sports on 03/18/2015

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