Bulldogs battle Nogales to 2-2 tie

Coming off a 2-2 performance at the Brandon Bean Invitational the Douglas Bulldog soccer team began regular season play Thursday, Nov. 29 tying their border town rivals, the Nogales Apaches 2-2 at Nogales.

The Bulldogs started out very strong dominating the first 10 minutes of play almost scoring on several opportunities.

On Nogales first run of the night, a defensive breakdown led to a score, giving the Apaches a 1-0 lead.

At the 24th minute mark, Hiram Iniquez scored on an assist from Kirt Cormier to tie the game at 1.

Nogales came right back and scored taking a 2-1 lead with only eight minutes left in the half The second half was hard fought on both sides and at the 67th mark, junior forward Eddie Othon alertly kicked in a loose ball in front of the Nogales goal to tie the game at 2-2.

After two ten minute overtime periods, with both teams missing some scoring opportunities, the game ended in a tie.

Douglas’ Coack Ken Cormier said there are no penalty kicks to determine the final outcome of a game this year.

The coach said several players had an outstanding game including midfielders Ozzie Moreno, Iniquez, and freshman Alexis Medina.

Goalie Juan Rivera, who had four saves, was injured with 10 minutes left in the game, and was replaced by sophomore Marc Gonzalez who, said Coach Cormier, played brilliantly the rest of the game recording three saves.

“The team played with a great deal of heart, never letting up, and I felt it was more of a win than a tie,” the coach said afterwards. “We started the game without three of our regular starters, lost four players to injuries during the contest, and yet never lost our focus or intensity. Everyone did their jobs very well.”

The Bulldogs hosted Sahuaro last night, will host Safford tonight and Thatcher on Thursday.

The junior varsity will play at 4 p.m. today followed by the varsity at 6. On Thursday just the varsity will play. That match will start at 3 p.m.