Eisenhower attack finally wears Moses Lake down

MOSES LAKE — The first goal right before the half was one of those “stuff happens” kind of things. Eisenhower midfielder Ian Reynoso slipped in off the left wing and hit a nice header off a free kick that cleared the Moses Lake wall.

Instead of going high and away, Reynoso pushed it down at the feet of Chiefs goaltender Eddie Reyes' feet and it slipped in just inside the near post.

It was Mario Pacheco's goal in the 58th minute that changed the complexity of the match and fueled the Cadets 3-nil win over the Chiefs (1-2-1) Friday night at Lions Field.

“For the first 10-15 minutes, we played the way we want to play. We pressed the ball and controlled our possession,” Chiefs coach Rian Allred said. “I think we tried to do too much, too fast and we missed the chances we had. Soccer is a mental game and you have to continue to do those things that created those opportunities and we stopped doing that.”

Friday's loss wasn't lack of effort, to be sure. The Chiefs pushed up into the Cadets (3-0) zone hard in the first 10 minutes. Eisenhower goaltender Juan Rivera made three of his seven saves in that time frame, including a diving save low to the far post when Chiefs captain Daniel Sinchuk drove into the box from the left wing and put a nice shot across the mouth of the goal. Rivera was protecting the near post and had to scramble to stop the ball as it crossed in front of him for the opposite side.

The Chiefs had four more shots on goal over the next 70 minutes, but that was the last real threat. Eisenhower took over at the midfield and the momentum began to change. Reynoso's goal as time counted down to the intermission opened the door, but the Cadets were in control after weathering the storm.

“The first 10 minutes we had better possessions of the ball,” said captain Jared Wood. “We lost shape and bunched up on defense and couldn't get the ball moving forward. We tried to reset at halftime, but they scored another one and it was hard to get back to attacking like we were.”

The Chiefs defense rallied around Reyes in net through the first 30 minutes. But the through balls were coming more often and the Cadets eventually got that right-place-at-the-right time score to break loose.

Reyes made seven saves on the night, including a quality kick save as Gilman drove deep into the box and put a left-footer to the near post before Wood could run him off. Jorge Amador scored one more time in the 76th minute, but it was decided well before that.

“We got our heads back up after the halftime talk, but when they scored that second goal it drained us,” Reyes said. “Overall, our defense did a pretty good job, they just attacked harder and kept coming.”

Moses Lake travels to play Eastmont on Tuesday.

Score by halves

Scoring summary

• E - Ian Reynoso, 39:20
• E - Mario Pacheco, 58:29
• E - Jorge Amador, 76:25