Emporia High’s soccer team rallied from two goals down to tie Wichita Heights 2-2 on Tuesday in Wichita.
Senior Alex Guevara scored on a penalty kick with one minute left in regulation to force the game into overtime after the Spartans had trailed for 50 minutes.
Emporia trailed 1-0 after Heights’ Ari Velasquez scored from outside the box with 11 minutes left in the first half.
“Just as usual, we had a terrible first half,” EHS coach Alex Cornejo said. “We had a serious talk during halftime and they came out ready to play in the second half.”
Heights took a 2-0 lead when the Spartans were penalized in the box 13 minutes into the second half. EHS goalie Corey Obermeyer stopped the penalty kick but it bounced back to the Heights player, who scored easily.
After Guevara’s goal, the momentum swung back to the Spartans and they controlled the overtime but were unable to finish several chances to score.
“It was a good comeback, but we are at the end of the season and we cannot afford to play good only a few minutes instead of the entire game,” Cornejo said.
Emporia plays its final game of the regular season on Thursday against Garden City at Maize at 4 p.m.