The Abilene High boys soccer team scored in the final seven minutes to break a tie and beat Wylie 2-1 at Shotwell Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Eagles opened the scoring three minutes into the game as a deflected free kick made it into the back of the net.
It remained 1-0 until the final minute of the first half. Rivers Rodriguez delivered a free kick from midfield into the box, it was deflected out of the box where Austin Gray put it back into the box and Aiden Kincaid scored on a header to tie the game.
The game stayed tied until AHS broke through again. This time, it was a shot from just outside the box delivered into the top right corner of the goal to win the game.
“I’m so proud of the heart and fight we showed,” Wylie coach Clay Vaughn said. “I think the boys can really feel it and feel how close we are to breaking out and playing even better. We must continue to play with the speed and intensity we showed.”
The Bulldogs will have a chance to do just that at the Johnson County Showcase over the weekend. Wylie opens against Fort Worth Castleberry at 7 p.m. Thursday, then play at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday against Joshua and Trimble Tech before finishing at 9 a.m. Saturday against Timberview.
“We are looking forward to going to Joshua and playing some tough teams and get to spend some time hanging out as a group,” Vaughn said. “Tournaments are great for testing skill, endurance and mental toughness, but also the off field things like eating meals together and me beating them in Rocket League. The boys are looking forward to it and I look for us to show well at this tournament.”
Jordan Hofeditz covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jhofeditz. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
