In a game where Escalon had a 2-0 lead at the half, the varsity soccer boys saw Ripon Christian storm back to take over the game in the second half.

But a determined Cougar squad found a way to tie the game – twice – ultimately ending with a 5-5 draw against the visiting Knights.

After keeping the visitors off the scoreboard in the first half, the Knights took advantage of two penalty kicks early in the second half, scored on a header off a corner kick and also got a shot from the side to curl in just inside the goal post. That gave them a 4-2 lead, leaving the host Cougars a bit in shock. They pulled it together, however, and answered back with two goals to knot the game at 4-4.

RC then regained the lead to make it 5-4, Escalon netting the equalizer late to at least get the tie.

“Jesse Gomez led the way with three goals and an assist, Brody Abbot had a goal and an assist, and Damian Morales had a goal,” said head coach Paul Silva. “The two penalties called against us were both hand ball fouls. We played a great first half, unfortunately our second half wasn’t played with the same intensity and competitive spirit.”

The good news is that the game didn’t go on the books as a loss but the Cougars will look to regroup for two games this week.

“We are away to Ripon on Wednesday (Jan. 15) and host Orestimba on Friday,” Silva said.

JV BOYS

Giving up an early goal to Ripon Christian, the JV Cougar boys recovered from that and went on to post a 4-2 win on Friday.

Head coach Polo Rodriguez said allowing the early tally put the team in a tough position.

“It made it a very frustrating game; for the first 30 minutes nothing seemed to be going our way,” Rodriguez said. “Right before the half, Fidel Segura scored with a powerful right kick off the right side of the field with an assist from Jovany Roa.”

The teams were knotted 1-1 midway through.

“Second half we finally woke up and things seemed to be more positive,” said the coach.

Juan Pablo de Luna scored with an assist from Brandon Beltran and Segura scored his second goal, assisted by de Luna, to make it 3-1. Ripon Christian scored a goal off a breakaway to trim the deficit to 3-2.

“Last minute, Brandon Beltran scored our fourth goal” Rodriguez said, with the JV team finishing the match with a 4-2 win.

SOCCER GIRLS

A trip to Ripon Christian to face off with the Lady Knights was a tough one for the Escalon varsity girls on Friday, taking a shutout loss, 4-0.

“We played hard and got to halftime with a 0-0 score,” said assistant coach Jim Ball. “Karisa McNeil had another great game in goal with 18 saves including two point blank shots. We really struggled to get our offense going.”

Escalon had eight total shots on goal, led by Adriana Romero with three, but couldn’t get one in the net.

Emma Strong and Gweneth Goodman had strong defensive games for Escalon.

The JV girls also were defeated on the road, with Ripon Christian outscoring them by a 6-1 final.