Nieto stars for Rams in shootout victory

Just four days after ruining Senior Night at Hope in a shootout, Lakeside kept the Bobcats at bay when the teams again went to a shootout Monday night at Austin Field.

It took seven shots from each team to determine the game as Lakeside (12-3-1, 7-2 5A/6A-6) keeper Devin Nieto managed to block the shot from the seventh shooter from Hope (6-7, 4-6) to secure the win.

"We've got to get tougher on defense," said Lakeside head coach Craig Moses. "That's one thing that's been leading us all year long. I really wasn't worried until they got that other goal, and I knew we had better fight hard. When they got the third one, I said, 'Uh oh.' Luckily, we got through to PKs, and we hit PKs well. They hit them well. Nieto stepped up and made a big save there at the end. He had two big saves down there."

Philip Gayle got the Rams on the board first with a shot from about 12 yards out, putting the ball into the top right corner of the net with 7:37 off the clock in the first half.

Hope responded less than a minute later with a goal of their own as Chris Torres shot from about 25 yards out on the right side, getting the ball past a stretched-out Nieto.

Gayle picked up his second goal of the night with 28:36 remaining in the half, sending a rocket from the far right corner of the penalty area into the left side of the net.

"We kind of came out and gave up a couple easy ones that I wish we hadn't given up early," said Hope head coach Zac Hoglund. "We fought back and played hard. We got beat in PKs in a game where nobody missed until the seventh one. Just a tough loss there."

Following a foul about 40 yards out, Russell Gartner took a direct free kick, clearing Hope's wall and getting the ball past the Hope keeper for a 3-1 lead at the break.

"Another night in the neighborhood in 5A-South," Moses said of the battle between the two teams. "That's what you get in the 5A-South. They came in ready to play. I didn't think we played very well, but a lot of that was contributed to by the way Hope played us. Luckily, there at the very beginning, we got three goals; they gave us a couple gifts, but we took them. The bad thing tonight is we let them get back in the game."

After a misstep by the Lakeside defense, Hope's Nick Sanchez squeezed a shot between Nieto and the post from the right corner of the goal box to pull the Bobcats within 3-2 with 26:06 remaining in the game.

Hope's Samuel Munoz took a shot from about 40 yards out. Several Rams crying that the player was offside, the ball went past Nieto to knot the score with 9:16 remaining, but no call was made by the officials.

Thomas McAlister, Grant Viscardis, Miguel Arreola, Gartner, Gayle, Luke Long and Jose Diaz all scored on the penalty kicks for the Rams.

"After De Queen, we've been practicing PKs, and we haven't missed one, knock on wood, since then. Hopefully we can continue because I know we're going to need PKs some more this year. We've just got to keep playing hard and keep going.

Adrian Dominguez, Daniel Hernandez, Aryell Felipe, Torres, Christian Martinez, Pablo Piza and Munoz all shot for the Bobcats with Nieto dropping low and blocking Munoz's shot off his knee and gloves.

"We didn't kick PKs very well," Hoglund said. "I didn't know what to expect. Our kids obviously recovered and bounced back and did a great job kicking them tonight. We just came up one short."

The Rams took 33 shots in the match with 21 of those being on target, 64 percent. Nieto had 11 saves and 10 blocks in the match while allowing the three goals during regulation.

Hope had 44 shots with 22 of those on target for 50 percent efficiency. Keeper Ezequel Monreal had nine saves and four blocks against the Rams while allowing three regulation goals and all seven penalty kicks in the shootout.

Lakeside traveled to El Dorado (4-6-2, 2-5) Tuesday, and they will travel to Benton (9-1-1, 8-0 5A/6A-5) Thursday for a non-conference match before their final two matches next week. Hope travels to El Dorado Friday before wrapping up its season at Texarkana (2-8, 0-7) Tuesday.

Sports on 04/18/2018

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