Seconds kept ticking off the Tiger Stadium scoreboard Friday night with the match between the Rockdale Tiger soccer team and Madisonville looking more like a 2-1 victory for the visiting Mustangs.
However, things changed immediately when Rockdale senior Hagen Land nailed a header to tie the match 2-2 with 4:46 left on the clock.
“I was pretty pumped after that,” said RHS head coach Gilberto Rodriguez. “And Hagen needed that, he’s been very frustrated with not scoring a lot this season and then he hit that shot.”
For the remaining time, RHS defenders held off a strong MHS offense and forced the match into a tie-breaker situation.
In a tie-breaker, each team elects five players to take a shot five feet from the goal. The team with the most goals in that scenario wins the match.
Rockdale took the game, winning 6-4 with goals by Land, Marvin Mata, Uriel Flores and Enrique Rivera.
Land also scored in the first half .
“We managed the game very well,” Rodriguez said. “I was just hoping to tie, especially since (Madisonville) was a state finalist two or three years ago and I knew they would be good.”
Three days earlier, the Tigers beat Florence 3-0 at home.
Rodriguez talked this week about the improvements he seen from his team in a very short span.
“Our boys took a turn after the Connally game,” he said. “We won that game (Connally) when we shouldn’t have.
“We only completed 33-percent of our passes and so the week after we worked on everybody making sure to touch the ball twice before they make a pass. Then when we got to Florence and completed 65-percent of our passes. Since then, we’ve improved.”
LADY TIGERS—While the boys faced Madisonville, the Lady Tigers were in Madisonville playing in the Lady Mustang Invitational.
Rockdale got their first win defeating Palestine Westwood 1-0.
The Lady Tigers also tied Caldwell, and lost 14-0 to tournament champion Huntsville and 4-0 to host Madisonville.
Coach Shirley Lozano says her team is very motivated but also facing injuries including goalkeeper Grace Avrin.
The girls have played a couple of their recent matches with only 11 girls.
THIS WEEK—B ot h Rockdale soccer teams played at home Tuesday after press time. The Lady Tigers were host to Needville and the Tigers also stayed home for their district opener with Hearne.
The Tigers return to action on Tuesday when they host their second district game facing La Grange.
The Lady Tigers don’t return to action until Feb. 9, when they start district play at Giddings.
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