Chargers roar back, knock off Reapers

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

AURORA -- For Aurora Central Catholic's soccer team, a little mid-course correction at halftime worked wonders.

Down a goal at the break, the Chargers roared back with two goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half, then held on for a 2-1 victory over Plano.

Freshman Kendel Reed scored what proved to be the winner off a corner kick, but there were plenty of tense moments after that point as the Reapers applied pressure.

Aurora Central improved to 3-6 overall with the non-conference triumph. The young Reapers, in only their second year as a varsity program, fell to 2-12.

Plano's strategy from the opening kick was simple -- send the ball downfield and try to outsprint the Chargers and get a breakaway. The approach worked in the game's first two minutes when Pape Lopez and David Vargas got behind the defense. When ACC got a defender back, Vargas passed to Lopez for a shot that caromed off Charger goalkeeper Brian O'Donnell, but Vargas was there for the rebound and an early 1-0 Plano lead.

The Reapers had several other opportunities set up by long passes in the first half, but could not convert. For the game, Plano outshot Aurora Central 19-10.

"I told the guys at halftime that, with (Plano) being a kick-and-run team, we need to drop a guy back, win the ball, and keep possession," said Eric Cournaya, whose team also forced numerous offside calls on the Reapers with its offside-trap strategy. "And we hardly won any 50-50 balls in the first half. After that, we stepped it up and were more aggressive going after the ball."

About eight minutes into the second half, Charger midfielder Eric Anaya found himself just to the right of the goal mouth. He made a simple pass to an open Shane Samuels, a freshman, who booted the ball home to tie the score at 1-1.

Several minutes later, the Chargers had a corner kick. Anaya directed the ball toward the crowded goal mouth, and after a few touches, Reed sent a left-footer into the corner of the net past sophomore goalkeeper Jake Morales to give ACC a 2-1 lead.

From that point, the Chargers were mostly content with kicking the ball out of harms' way. But the Reapers were very aggressive in an attempt to tie the score. O'Donnell was forced to make a pair of sprawling saves on shots by Lopez, who was a constant threat from his left wing position.

Defender Luke Ressler, the only senior on the Aurora Central squad, was huge with about 17 minutes left in the game. With O'Donnell drawn out of position, Ressler had to make two saves on the same Plano surge to keep the Reapers from scoring.

With about three minutes left, Lopez booted a free kick toward the goal, but the Charger defense cleared the ball out of trouble. And the Reapers had their last solid chance moments later when Vargas and Octavio Nevarez were unable to track down a loose ball near the post.

"We're a young team, and we're still learning how to finish," said Plano coach Tom Dean, who played with Cournaya several years ago at Aurora University. "Defensively we played well, but had the two breakdowns. I can't fault the effort -- these are great kids who work hard and really bust their tail." Soccer: Aurora Central 2, Plano 1