The Pam Pack soccer didn’t extend its winning streak on Tuesday, but it also didn’t break it as Washington tied former Coastal Conference rival D.H. Conley 2-2 on the road.
After topping J.H. Rose on Friday, Washington (3-0-1, Eastern Plains) was hoping its momentum would carry over to Tuesday’s game against the Vikings and early on it looked like it did, as the Pam Pack went up 1-0 on a Sergio Higuera goal.
“We were coming in from a big win against Rose on Friday night and we came in with some confidence,” Washington coach Jimmy Kozuch said. “We started off good and got a goal early and we were able to hold on to it for a little while.
“… Sergio is a junior and he’s been working hard this offseason and he came down and really made something happen. He made a nice move to get around his defender and got one for us to give us an early lead, which was really important in this game.”
The Pam Pack lead would not last too long as the Vikings stormed back with two unanswered goals and held a 2-1 lead with five minutes left to play.
“We got a little sloppy and made a few mistakes,” Kozuch said. “We gave a few up an ended up getting ourselves into a hole.”
Sensing Washington’s opportunities were dwindling, Kozuch made an aggressive call that proved to payoff.
“At the very end with about four minutes to go I pulled a defender and added an attacker and we were able to add a little bit of pressure and we got immediate results from it,” Kozuch said.
That it did, as Alex Donadio was able to punch one in from close range to tie the game.
Despite the tie, Washington is off to its hottest start during Kozuch’s seven-year tenure with the team.
“To be honest I think this is the best start we’ve had, possibly in my whole coaching career,” Kozuch said. “Last year it took us 13 games to get three wins, right now we’re four games in and we have three wins.
“It feels good. We have some confidence building up and we’re finding a lot of good things on the field and we’re really coming together. We still have a lot of work to do, but with that being said I’ve seen a lot of fight and determination out of these guys and I’m loving it.”
The Pam Pack JV is also off to a hot start as it topped the Vikings 3-1 to improve to 2-0 on the year.