The Pam Pack soccer team has done a good job this season of cashing in on its opportunities, but on Tuesday Washington missed out on the chance to expand its Eastern Plains Conference lead by tying Beddingfield 2-2.
The Pam Pack (11-1-2, 4-0-1) still holds sole possession of first place, but could have expanded its conference lead with a victory over a pesky Bruins team that sits right under Washington with a 2-0-3 conference mark.
Washington had several opportunities to put Beddingfield away, but coach Jimmy Kozuch said the team did not play with its usual energy.
“I think that Beddingfield came out tonight and just outhustled us,” Kozuch said. “They worked a little bit harder than us and they were able to answer every time we scored a goal.”
The Pam Pack took a 1-0 lead late in the first half when Jorge Rodriguez notched his 22nd goal of the season.
“We got a nice goal from Jorge,” Kozuch said. “We had a lot of opportunities to score, but we were struggling to finish. But, after about 15 minute Sergio Higuera worked the ball and crossed it to Jorge, who finished.”
The score would stand at 1-0 until midway through the second half when the Bruins evened it.
With eight minutes to go in the game, Washington recaptured the advantage on a Christian Crompton corner kick, but its lead was short lived.
“We finally got a little momentum with the corner kick. Christian made a good kick and the ball went in,” Kozuch said. “But (Beddingfield) has a really good guy who is leading the conference with 23 goals, and we did a good job of marking him all night, but we let him free and he punished us from about 35 yards out with a shot that trickled in.”
That goal would force the two teams to play an extra session.
“We came out a lot sharper in overtime,” Kozuch said. “We had a ton of opportunities, but we just weren’t able to put the ball in the back of the net.”