The Emporia High soccer team played Hayden to a 2-2 tie in two overtimes Tuesday afternoon in Topeka, but not before the Spartans just missed on the chance to come away with the win late.
With 3 minutes, 30 seconds left in the second overtime, EHS’s Alex Guevara got a shot past Hayden goalie Gabe Oshea, but the ball went a little too far to the left of the goal. Emporia High’s Freddy Rodriguez was in position on the left post to knock Guevara’s miss in, but his sliding shot just missed, and the game ended minutes later.
“I don’t know how those two (Guevara and Rodriguez) missed those shots,” EHS coach Steve Pearson said with a laugh. “They both looked good, and it was a situation where everybody on our bench jumped up and cheered, and they(Hayden players) all started throwing things on the ground.
“We had our chance. We were seriously inches away from winning.”
The Spartans (1-3-1) began the game on a tear, scoring their two goals within the game’s first 11 minutes.
Adrian Trujillo started the scoring when he looped in a shot from 30 yards out in the third minute.
“There was no way their goalie could have reached it,” Pearson said.
Ryan Dorsey scored in the 11th minute on a header off a corner kick from Trujillo.
But after the initial burst, the Spartans’ scoring chances were slim up until the overtime misses by Guevara and Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, Hayden (2-2-1) got on the scoreboard when Brett Koehn knocked in a penalty kick in the 27th minute after Emporia’s Gary Rivera committed a foul inside the box when he collided with Koehn from behind.
Hayden and Emporia battled the rest of the way until the 64th minute, when Hayden’s Cody Martinek got a shot to find the net through a cluster of players right in front of the box, tying the game at 2.
Emporia’s next game is at 6:15 p.m. Monday at TRYSA Soccer Complex against Highland Park.
Spartans’ golf places 7th at Newton
The Emporia High girls golf team finished seventh Tuesday at the Newton Invitational.
The Spartans were led by Maryann Bennett, who carded a 52 to finish in a tie for 26th, just four shots outside the top 10. Alyssa Coffelt was two shots behind Bennett with a 54 (26th), followed by Hannah Watkins, who finished with a 55 (29th).
Amber Richard came in with a 58, Rachael Clopton carded a 59 and Lanae Wells rounded out the Spartan scoring with a 66.
Emporia as a team with 219 points, finished just two points behind Newton (217). Andover took the team title with 174 points, followed by Salina South (178) and Derby (194).