GAINESVILLE — For Gainesville senior Edwin Garcia it was almost more a feeling of relief than jubilation.
Almost.
Garcia’s trickle of a shot with just 1:15 left in overtime slid past diving Alexander keeper Nick Collado to give the Red Elephants a thrilling, though frustrating, 2-1 victory over the Cougars Wednesday night in the second round of the Class 6A boys soccer playoffs at City Park Stadium.
“It was a relief, no doubt,” Garcia said. “It was not our best game and we did get a little frustrated at times. But when I saw that go in we all went crazy and forgot about everything else. A great feeling.”
It was the only lead of the night for the Red Elephants (17-2) who managed to push their unbeaten streak at home to 10 straight. They’ll need to find a way to keep the magic going when they play host to Richmond Hill on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
“Alexander [11-6-1] is a lot better than their record,” an exhausted-looking Gainesville coach Elie Viviant said. “We did not play well. Number 16 (Reese Ward) really hurt us and their keeper was outstanding. I was worried when it looked like we may have to go to (penalty kicks). I’m glad we didn’t have to.”
Gainesville dominated the possession for nearly the entire first half and most of the 90 minutes, but the teams went into the intermission in a scoreless tie.
Collado was a big reason. He was a stone wall for the first 84 minutes as he dove, jumped, and punched away every Gainesville attempt for a dozen saves, about half of the acrobatic variety, including two point-blank saves inside the box. His effort helped the Cougars cling to a 1-0 lead for much of the second half.
Alexander’s only goal came after a Garcia blast was blocked and ignited a Cougar counter that ended with a Ward breakaway. Ward then beat Gainesville keeper Augustin Garcia for a 1-0 advantage in the 48th minute.
From there the Red Elephants constantly pushed forward looking for the equalizer.
The Red Elephants missed a chance on a cross in the 49th minute and then a Cristian Rodriguez first-time effort hit the left post in the 51st minute. Gainesville produced a corner in the 55th minute but could not get off a shot. Rodriguez touched a nifty cross to Armando Hernandez, but he just missed on a header with 19 minutes remaining.
Collado then made four saves in a six-minute span to keep the Red Elephants off the board. Pedro Santos looked poised to end the drought with a breakaway shot, but he too was denied by a diving Collado with nine minutes left.
Rodriguez, who seemingly drilled shot after shot at the goal from a variety of angles, finally connected with a 40-yard blast that skidded past an out-of-position Collado to tie the game at 1-1 with just 5:59 left.
But disaster nearly struck just 30 seconds later as Alexander appeared to jump back in front with a second Ward breakaway after a defensive breakdown. However, the visiting attacker was called for offsides to nullify the goal.
The Cougars took advantage of another Red Elephants defensive miscue as Colton Wandlet got a breakaway but Augustin Garcia made a diving, and season-saving, stop with just 2:12 left.
That set the stage for Edwin Garcia’s heroics.
“We felt like we had to win that in regulation because their keeper played amazing. He was the real deal. I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened (in penlaties),” Garcia said.
But Garcia also said he feels like they got their bad one out of the way.
“Everybody has a bad game (in the playoffs) and we didn’t play very well and found a way to win,” he said. “We’re a talented team that can win it all so we just need to fix a few things and I think we’ll be fine.”
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/5/665710/playoff-soccer-gainesville-boys-second-round