One miracle short

By DAN HOEHNE

daniel.hoehne@newssun.com

LAKE PLACID - "If you're going to lose in the district tournament and still walk off the field with your head held high, this is really the only way that can be done."

Those were the words of Lake Placid boys soccer coach James Ashley Tuesday night, aptly describing the astounding scenario that had just played out and ended the Dragons season.

"You can't be down 4-0 at halftime and expect to win," Ashley also said.

But his team nearly did just that.

It was, in fact, Lake Placid digging itself a big hole early on, as Robert Aguilar and Umberto Alvarado spent the first 40 minutes trading off goals.

Aguilar got the opening score, less than two minutes into the match as he raced into the Dragon zone, evaded a charging Frankie Gomez at the top of the goal box and swept it into the back of the net.

Lake Placid almost struck back just 45 seconds later, but a leaping header went just a bit too high.

At the 22:02 mark, Alvarado blasted one through a crowd from 20 yards out to make it a 2-0 contest and he added a similar score with 9:48 left in the half.

A little more than two minutes later, Aguilar got another chance on a penalty kick and got it through for the aforementioned 4-0 lead at the half.

"We dug ourselves a big hole" Ashley said. "We weren't ready defensively but then I switched up three of our defenders and (Frostproof) couldn't get adjusted."

Which paved the way for the nearly miraculous comeback.

It began with 28:04 left to play, when Jorge Gomez worked his way inside and slipped one past the Bulldog keeper to get the Dragons on the board.

Twelve minutes later, it was Jose Hernandez getting to a deflected shot and booting it upward into the back, top of the net to cut the lead to two.

And when Jorge Medina bent a direct kick past a diving keeper at the 12:20 mark, Lake Placid was suddenly within one.

It was seven minutes later, however, that Frostproof got what would turn out to be an insurance score, because with under two minutes to play, Osvaldo Orduna frantically worked it in from the left side and blasted it across the front of the net on an angle to close it to 5-4.

Time then ran out on the Dragons, halting their Herculean effort and sending the Bulldogs on to the district title game.

"The other teams watching, early on were rooting for us so they could face us," Ashley said. "After that second half though, they were quiet and wanted no part of us. We almost did the unthinkable.

"This is such a great group that are so coachable," he continued. "They've improved so much as a team and they've seen what they can do when they play as a team. I'm so proud of what they did and now we just take this as a learning experience to improve from for next year."