A goal in the final minutes of the game by Junior midfielder Ricardo Sanchez capped a 3-2 Sunny Hills comeback Victory over the Sonora Raiders.

Though the match was a high-scoring affair, early on in the game both teams struggled to keep the ball for extended periods of time and to create scoring opportunities.

The Lancers and Raiders consistently gave the ball away to each other through inaccurate and ineffective passes that either headed out of bounds or were intercepted by the opposition.

After an initial quarter hour of ineffective offensive play by both sides, Sunny Hills (12-5-1, 2-0) came very close taking the lead.

A strike by Lancers forward Diego Useda by the top of the Raiders penalty box deflected off the underside of the top post of Sonoras goal and a few feet if not inches in front of the goal line.

After Useda’s goal opportunity Sonora (7-5-2, 0-1) took control of possession through offensive build up play in Lancer territory that would lead to Sunny Hills defenders being forced to clear the ball out of bounds or back to Raiders territory.

Raiders crosses and runs into Sunny Hill’s penalty box were being dealt with by the Lancers preventing Sonora from getting any close-range shots on goal until a foul by midfielder Colton Wert on Sonora forward Jose Valenzuela.

Valenzuela made his way past Wert into the Lancers penalty box where he was pushed by the midfielder which led to the referee calling a penalty against the Lancers.

Midfielder Blake Tourville stepped up to take the spot kick and sent it into the left side of the goal and opposite Lancers goalkeeper Richard Orihuela who dove to the right.

The Lancers responded to going behind by raising their offensive efforts through utilizing crosses to try to create goal scoring chances and earning corner kicks.

By the end of the half the game was being played in the Sonoras half of the field.

In the opening minutes of the second half the Lancers, led by Toledo upfront, came very close to equalizing the game.

Toledo capitalized on poor shielding by a Sonora Defender and made his way around him to retrieve the ball in the penalty box before the Raiders goalkeeper could reach it.

The freshman forward dribbled around the Goalkeeper and sent a cross into the middle of the box met by a header by a Lancers player that would have landed in the back of the net if not for a goal line heading clearance by a Sonora defender.

After a few more chances by the Lancers, Sonora began to return to first half form possession wise, but a loss of composure by one of their own changed the composition of the game.

Moments after a header by Tourville went off the top of the Lancers goal, Raiders midfielder Cristian Marquez was given his second yellow card of the game and subsequently ejected for dissent towards an official.

Though down a man, the Raiders were able to keep the flow of the game in Lancer territory for a few more minutes and earned another penalty kick when midfielder Erik Estrada was kicked down by a Lancers defender.

Estrada doubled Sonora’s lead by striking the spot kick into the left side of goal and away from Orihuela who dove the wrong way once again.

Trailing by two goals, Lancers head coach Mike Schade changed up his teams tactics to be more offense oriented.

Approximately three minutes after conceding a penalty kick Sunny Hills got the opportunity to take one of their own when Raiders defender Frankie Camacho took down a Lancers player in Sonoras penalty box.

Midfielder Herminio Padilla took the subsequent penalty kick and sent it into the goal and in the opposite direction of the diving Raiders goalkeeper.

The tactical change bore results once again when a cross by Toledo was met by a header by midfielder Cody Delzer.

Delzer’s header went towards goal, past the goalkeeper and crossed the goal line after a goal line clearance attempt by a Sonora defender failed.

The Lancers celebrations were curtailed by a red card given to Useda moments after the equalizer for taunting Raiders players.

After the goal the game was not just even on the scoreboard, but also in team composition since both now had 10 players.

Sonora left the defensive setup the man disadvantage and Lancers offensive intensity had made them take and looked to score a third goal.

With both teams looking for the go-ahead goal play was more open and one team was able to find the go ahead goal.

A pass from the midfield put Sanchez past Sonora’s defense and in on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Sanchez strike was partially parried by the Raiders goalkeeper who had come out to block it.

The goalkeepers contact with the ball was not enough to stop the strike and it ended up in the left corner of the goal to put Sunny Hills ahead 3-2 with 5 minutes left in regulation.

The Lancers bunkered down after the go ahead goal and were able to fend off the Raiders efforts to equalize until the final whistle.

“It just came down to mental discipline and we just lacked it,” said Sonora Head Coach Cory Witt about the final minutes of the game, and later partly attributed his teams lost to a shift in momentum.

“I thought for a moment we were going to overtime but I guess the players thought differently,” Schade said, who attributed his team’s come back to tactical changes among other factors.

Sonora will look to rebound from the loss to the Lancers when they take on the Troy Warriors at Troy High School on Friday.

Sunny Hills will seek to remain undefeated in Freeway League play when they host the Buena Park Coyotes on Friday.

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