Warden soccer rallies to first win

Come from behind effort defeats Granger Spartans

WARDEN — The Warden Cougars rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Granger Spartans 3-1 for the school's first ever win in boys' soccer Saturday.

Granger took an early lead on a goal in which the Warden defense simply broke down, allowing a Spartan ball handler to take the ball to the goal for the game's first score. From there, though, the Cougars tightened up their defense, holding Granger scoreless the rest of the way and allowing only five shots on goal during the contest.

"After that (Granger's goal), it kind of woke them up and they started playing hard," said Warden coach Donnie Edson.

The Cougars tied the game before half-time on a goal by Manuel Morales, with Carlos Landeros assisting on the play.

In the second half, with the wind at their backs, the Warden offense heated up. The Cougars got goals from Marco Landeros and Manuel Dominguez, with Carlos Landeros picking up his second assist of the game on Dominguez's goal, to take control of the match.

"In the second half we started controlling the game," said Edson of his team's improvement in play as the game wore on.

While the Warden players are still in the process of learning their coaches' offensive schemes, Edson believed something finally clicked for the Cougars on Saturday.

"Today they looked really good, like things are starting to make sense for them," said the Warden coach. "They're doing really well."