Lions settle for tie

Ahead for the majority of the second half, Live Oak High’s boys soccer team needed a late goal in the final minute to lift the Lions to a 4-4 tie with visiting Wheatland.

“We should have won,” Live Oak coach Mike Owen said. “When you’re up 3-1 with 15 minutes to play, you should win.”

Both teams scored a goal in the first three minutes of the game.

Live Oak (2-0-2) scored first two minutes into the contest when Rene Cuellar lofted a free kick into the upper right corner of the net from 25 yards out, bending it around a Pirate wall.

Luke Hollingworth tied the game less than a minute later for Wheatland (3-1-1), slipping it into the net to the left of Lion goalie Luis Ramirez.

After that quick start, both teams settled down and played the rest of the first half in a scoreless stalemate.

The Lions came out strong in the second half and began peppering the Wheatland goal with shot after shot, but were unable to connect.

“We made some chances in the second half,” Owen said. “We started to exploit the sideline.”

Live Oak finally broke the deadlock 19 minutes into the second half when Cuellar scored a second goal off a free kick. This one was from 45 yards out and nestled just inside the crossbar, above the leaping attempt of Pirate goalie Iam Latham, who was unable to come down with the ball.

Two minutes later, the Lions scored again to up their lead to 3-1. Ivan Cuellar scored the goal off a penalty kick, after he was shoved to the ground in the box. Cuellar’s penalty kick rifled into the net to the goalie’s left, as Latham was caught leaning to the right.

Twenty-seven minutes into the second half, Wheatland finally scored its second goal. Alan Flores scored the goal after taking a pass up from Martin Rodriguez. Wheatland’s goalie came out of the net to try and stop the shot but Flores rammed it past the keeper.

With time running down, the Pirates tied the game with less than five minutes remaining. Marko Sohrakoff was tackled hard in the box, resulting in a penalty kick. Luke Hollingworth took the shot, which went straight at Ramirez.

Ramirez blocked the shot but couldn’t hang on to the ball. Hollingworth got the rebound and quickly booted the ball to the right of Ramirez for the tying goal.

The stalemate didn’t last long as the Pirates scored again one minute later. Hollingworth passed the ball to Flores, who managed to slip the ball past a charging Ramirez and into the left corner of the cage.

“We started to celebrate,” Wheatland coach Rusty Gordon said, adding his players should have waited entire the final whistle.

Live Oak came back and scored the tying goal three minutes later when Hector Cibrian took a cross from Rene Cuellar and scored from right in front of the net.

The deadlock over-shadowed the strong defensive efforts of both teams’ sweepers.

“He’s a fantastic player,” Owen said of the Lions’ Omar Basaldua, who came up with several key steals and slide tackles. “He’s a very unselfish player and works very hard out there.”

Wheatland’s sweeper, Tim Hollingworth, also played a solid game.

“He’s a very consistent player,” Gordon said of Hollingworth. “And still, today may have been the best game he’s ever played.”