ELITE EIGHT after Hawks Beat Gonzales with no time on Clock, 2-1
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Canyon Lake Soccer has now gone where no Hawk Sports team has ever reached after scoring with no-time on the clock in beating Gonzales, 2-1 in the Regional Quarterfinal game.
Make a Legacy!!
Go Hawks!!
The Lake will suit up again on Saturday with play starting up at 12 noon against the Progreso Red Ants.
“What just happened,” Head Coach Ryan Tierney said with a dazed look. “This was a pretty good game, our guys looked tired but our fitness was good as they (Gonzales) had a lot of players go down.”
On what strategic moves happened in helping with another incredible win, Coach Tierney continued, “We moved (Josh) Sczech and Nash Young to the mid-field and that helped us get more control of the ball and more chances to score, but it was our fitness that got us this win.”
It was another game that had CL spotting their opponent to a 1-0 lead with 36:44 left on the 1st Half clock. That would be the last goal by the Apaches as Canyon Lake staged another comeback that has this team playing in the Elite 8 for a chance to qualify for the Final 4 to be played next week.
Gonzales came into this battle with a 14 game winning streak and finished their season with a sparkling, 22-2-1 record. While, Canyon Lake has been making their living on having a dominant 2nd half and this game would be more of the same in now reaching the highest win total in the team’s history, 18-5-2 record.
Winning the 1st half did happen in that 2nd round game when CL scored a 3-1 win over Bellville, but that has been the exception and not the rule.
Canyon Lake did have some good shots on goal throughout the game but there was no success as the Apache’s Goal Keeper was playing a good game, but the difference on many of CL’s shots, was a Hawk miss rather than their goalie getting his hands on the rock.
Way to Plug Leaks, Go Hawks!!
Jorge DeLeon was one of those Hawks that had an open shot but sent the ball over the net with no damage done, until enough was enough as DeLeon dribbled the ball down the right side of the field and used a great cross over kick that would present another chance to cash in against Gonzales.
DeLeon’s kick was perfect, as the ball curved toward the net to the upper left side of the net, that tied the game with 13:24 remaining in this contest, 1-1.
“It is just a matter of doing your job and finishing,” DeLeon said. “I’m glad I had another chance and it gave me more energy which gave us hope that we could do this.”
“That goal helped a lot with our intensity,” Josh Sczech said. “When it went in…then I said this is our time…Coach told the Seniors that this might be there last 40 minutes of their career and now I am so happy and I knew we could win it.”
Way to Go Hawks!!
Canyon Lake and Gonzales had tied in their earlier game in regulation this year only to lose penalties kicks in a shoot-out for the Championship of the Apaches tournament.
The Hawks will gladly keep the situation as is, while losing the Gonzales tournament, but being the victor in a Regional Semi-Final contest.
Canyon Lake started their post-season beating a 3rd seeded Lampasas crew and since that come back win (what else is new), The Lake has been on top in beating the District 25-4A, District 26-4A, and District 29-4A champions with one more game against Progreso who was the District 31-4A Champion.
This Apache team had been held to 1 goal in regulation, 3 times this season with two of those games coming against Canyon Lake.
As has been mentioned, the Hawks have Sophomore Shawn Bell playing his 2nd game for Canyon Lake as the Goal Keeper. Pressure? Bell mentioned last week that he had, “A little!”
Bell was watching those last seconds at mid field, “We had 3 seconds and we practice headers all the time and I was just hoping someone would get their head on it and Josh did it!!”
A team effort as Bell was nails as the goalie again for this game as the back line took their defense personally in keeping Gonzales with-out a goal after spotting the Apaches their only score within 4 minutes to open play.
Way to Go Hawks!!
The Hawks would continue to press and had one more chance to finish this battle in regulation as Trenton Lorett placed the ball at the corner while waiting for the rest of the Hawk players to get in position. Lorett had placed the ball down at the :13 second mark while waiting 10 seconds before The Kick was put in motion.
“I knew I had to wait for the guys to get there (near the goal),” Lorett said like tactician. “I knew that as long as I could get the ball in the air that we had a chance because the game ends when the play is over.”
“I was waving for him (Lorett) to come out and was saying just kick the ball,” Sczech remembered. “And
somehow it just went in.”
Sczech headed the ball into the left side of the goal in what seemed like the ball was going in slow motion. On what this type of win does for a team, “It means a lot to make it this far and gives us recognition and now this year we did better than two years ago and that will carry own the Legacy that team (2017) started.”
“As a team this gives us confidence and this is what we have been doing all season,” Lorett closed. “No one thought about us when we came here two years ago and now we had a chance one more time…this will put us out there and I could not feel more proud for the community.”
CL Hawks soar with Elite Eight Berth, after win over Gonzales, 2-1
“This is amazing and I feel very Blessed by God to have this opportunity with this team,” Coach Tierney said reverently. “These kids have this ability to pull these games out…it has nothing to do bout me, I just stand on the sideline and walk around.”
Now the scene is set to see if CL can advance again and continue this magical season that has fans and coaches speechless.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 Final Gonzales 1 0 1 CL Hawks 0 2 2 Goals: Gonzales 36:44 Jorge DeLeon 13:24 Josh Sczech 00:00 Assist: Trenton Lorett
