Neither goalkeeper turned in a clean sheet Tuesday night at Lakeside's Chick Austin Field, but when all was said and done, Lakeside senior Anthony Herrera stood tall, allowing just one of three penalty kicks past as the Rams took the win.
The Rams (8-5, 6-1 5A South) made four penalty kicks to just one by the Trojans (8-6-2, 5-2) after the score was tied, 1-1, at the end of 80 minutes of play.
"We should not have to go to PKs," said Hot Springs head coach Geoffrey Hedrick. "We should finish it in regulation. We can't. We haven't. Now we've got to work on what we've got to work on to finish the games in regulation play."
Lakeside took the first kick with freshman midfielder Imanol Barragan getting the ball past junior keeper Johnathan Altamirano, but Hot Springs junior midfielder Alex Altamirano's shot was blocked as Herrera dropped low for the save. Senior striker Thomas McAlister also made his attempt before Hot Springs junior striker Cristian Jovel's shot was again stopped by Herrera.
Both Lakeside junior midfielder Bobby Rhodes and Hot Springs senior defender Francisco Yanez made their attempts, leaving the Rams ahead in the count, 3-1.
Lakeside junior striker Grant Viscardis' shot was stopped by Johnathan Altamirano, but the keeper came off the line, giving Viscardis a second chance. This time, Viscardis' shot squeezed past the keeper to give the Rams the win.
"I was proud of our guys, how we stepped up during the PKs," said Lakeside head coach Craig Moses. "I'm really proud of Anthony. We've been to PKs quite a bit when you count our tournaments, and he's probably saved five kicks this year for us in PKs. He's done his job in PKs. All we can ask you Anthony is to get one save, and he's always come up with that for us. I'm really proud of him."
Both teams struggled to get off strong shots throughout the game with Hot Springs taking just 23 shots and Lakeside 21.
The Trojans got on the scoreboard first as senior striker Josue Hernandez found junior striker Cristian Jovel on a deep pass. Jovel then fired off a shot from near the top of the penalty box that stopped the clock with 21:44 left.
The Rams scored the equalizer with 5:57 left in the half. A shot from the edge of the goal box by sophomore midfielder Alvaro Barragan-Torres went past Johnathan Altamirano to knot the score.
"We watched them play the entire first half," Hedrick said. "We didn't hardly get past the middle. I don't even think we threatened their goal maybe three or four times. One of them cost them a goal. I tear into them the second half, and my guys came to live. We can't keep spotting teams half a game. We just can't do it."
The Trojans had six of eight shots on goal in the half compared to five of 10 for the Rams. Lakeside improved to 12 of 21, 57 percent, for the game while the Trojans fired off 10 shots on target of 23, 43.5 percent.
"They stepped the pace up," Moses said of the Trojans in the second half. "I told them in the locker room at halftime. I said, 'They're going to come out, and they're going to step the pace up. They've got fast guys, but we've got to be able to overlap our guys and help out on defense.' I thought we did a pretty good job of it. We got a little tired there at the end, but of course, (this was) one of the first days we've played when it was 80-something degrees out. They're a little tired, and I understand."
Johnathan Altamirano finished with nine saves for a save percentage of 90 percent with the Trojan defense saving one more for 90.9 percent. Herrera had six saves for 85.7 percent with the team's defense adding three more to make the Rams save percentage 90 percent.
Sports on 04/11/2019