Republic stormed back from a three-goal deficit in the second half to force overtime before losing on penalty kicks to Carl Junction 6-5.
The Tigers could have folded after the Bulldogs scored in the opening minute — then got two penalty kicks to take a 3-2 lead at halftime. Carl Junction scored two more goals to make it 5-2.
“Good teams find a way to get themselves in every game, and we found ourselves in the hole and we were able to battle back and compete and give ourselves a chance to win,” says coach David Ashby. “I’m still very proud of my team. They played composed. They battled and got themselves back in.”
Trailing 5-2, the Tigers turned to Julio Quezada, who has been the focus of defenses all season. Quezada put on a clinic, splitting defenders, beating double-teams, and finding the back of the net twice in a five-minute span. That made the score 5-4, and when Quezada completed the hat trick on a penalty kick, the Tigers found themselves back in a tie game.
“That’s something we’ve been waiting for for a while now,” Ashby says of Quezada’s offensive explosion. “He knows he’s capable of doing that. He just had it in him. He told me at halftime, ‘Coach, feed me the ball. I can beat these guys.’ So we kept feeding him the ball.”
The teams played two scoreless ten-minute overtime periods before Carl Junction outscored Republic 4-3 on the final penalty kicks.
“When it comes down to PKs, it’s anybody’s game,” Ashby says. “It just unfortunately didn’t go our way.”
Dawson Sjomeling had two assists for the Tigers. Manny Elivo had a goal and an assist, and Raymond Rosas added a goal as well for the Tigers.
