Boy’s Soccer: Hawks Turn Negative into Positive in Win over Gonzales, 2-1
Hawks doing wrap-up after comeback win over Gonzales.
Canyon Lake turned a negative into a positive in win over Gonzales, 2-1 on Friday night running the Hawk record to 5-1-3 going into district play in two weeks.
Let’s Go Hawks!!
The wind played a pivotal role in this win as all the goals were scored with both teams having a wind at their back.
That Gonzales goal was early in the first half and CL had some challenges but came up empty going into half-time talks.
“We had great effort,” Head Coach Cody Schroeder said. “Gonzales is a tough opponent and they have a beautiful game with talented players that know how to execute. They caused a lot of problems.”
The Apaches have been a fun battle for Canyon Lake for the last 4 years with CL getting the better of this series with close outcomes. Gonzales had the upper hand last year in winning twice.
In 2017, the Hawks made their best post-season run after beating a Top 5 Salado team for Area and that win put CL’s next Round against Gonzales.
A rambunctious Apache crowd was the real deal and Canyon Lake surprised their 2nd top team, 4-3 which punched a ticket to Harlingen for Regional play.
That would be the first time a Hawk team in any sport would make a Region tournament.
Let’s Go Hawks!!
Two years later, The Lake would face Gonzales again with this game at Harlingen and a corner kick with a header scored with time running out which jettisoned CL to a Final 4 realm and now that stands as a Hawk best.
Gonzales righted their ship last year with two wins over the Hawks before a shortened year due to the China Virus.
Now another come back win for Canyon Lake has to have a team that seems to be getting a confident step in their get-a-long.
“We got what we needed to do in going negative to get a positive result and that proved to be just what we needed,” Coach Schroeder continued when talking bout the winning goal with a little more than 3 minutes remaining in the contest.
That play had Sophomore Ethan Schedlbauer dribbling the ball on the far-side sideline before he was able make a bee line to the goal before moving the ball out to a waiting Alex Gracia for the winner.
Alex Gracia and Ethan Schedlbauer teamed up for the winning goal.
“I got the pass going down low and I had one of their players right behind me,” Schedlbauer recalled. “In practice we had been passing negative and my foot slipped when I was about to make the pass for the score.”
That pass did not have to be perfect on this night as the right opportunity for Gracia was in order for a put back and the winning goal.
“I saw the ball coming towards him and I just went in and hit it and it went very far,” Gracia said with a bit of Spaniard accent.
On what it is like to play in the States? “I have noticed a change in level of play and the way we play the game here is different. The game is played slower here but I like the competitive part this year.”
Josh Sczech scored the first goal with 29 minutes remaining to tie the score as Sczech (7 goals) and Gracia (6 goals) leads the Hawks in scoring.
Canyon Lake will now have next week off as they ready themselves for district when Wimberley (6-2-1) comes to the Hawk Nest on Tuesday, February 9th.
Turning negatives into positives has been a good road for this season as a Hawk losing record has been turned into a winning percentage during this campaign with hopes that will continue in two weeks.
Way to Go Hawks!!
DISTRICT 26-4A STANDINGS Team W L T Pct. Bandera 4 1 1 .750 Boerne 4 1 1 .750 CL Hawks 5 1 3 .722 Wimberley 6 2 1 .722 Fredericksburg 3 3 4 .500 Davenport 3 4 1 .438 Next Games February 2nd IDEA Montopolis @ Davenport Taylor @ Fredericksburg Wimberley @ Austin Achieve Bandera @ SA Cole Boerne @ Antonio Prep February 9th Wimberley @ CL Hawks
