Huskies pick up two wins and a tie the pitch

Bob Kirkpatrick/The Sun Tribune - Cameron Valencia came oh so close to scoring Othello’s fourth goal of the first half in the match with Ephrata Saturday.

by Bob Kirkpatrick Editor
| April 1, 2018 1:00 AM

Othello recorded wins over Prosser and Ephrata and battled Lakeside from Nine Mile Falls to a 1-1 tie to improve to 5-0-1 in nonleague soccer action.

The Huskies came into the matches having outscored their first three opponents 8-1, but failed to get on the board until the late in the second half against the Mustangs in Prosser March 20.

Prosser went up top 1-0 on a freak goal 16 minutes into the fuss.

“They got on the scoreboard on a cleared ball by our defenders that bounced off one of the Prosser players the arm and went in for the goal,” coach Bernie Garza said. “It was a mistake on our part and a clear hand ball that the ref said went off the chest of the Prosser player.”

Bernie Garza Jr. got the equalizer in the 66th minute off a rebound of his shot from the 6-yard box that hit the post.

The game was knotted 1-1 at the end of regulation and wouldn’t go to overtime because it was a nonleague preseason contest. But both coaches agreed to two five minute extra periods, which went without a score. Othello won it in a 5-3 shootout.

Lakeside 2

Othello 2

Naudys Borrero (Juan Tapia assist) scored on a one touch shot to the far post to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the home match with Lakeside March 23. The Eagles tied it 1-all at the 14 minute-mark on a miss-cleared ball from the 6-yard box. Tapia broke the tie on a penalty kick and Othello led 2-1 at the break. Lakeside got the equalizer in the 41st minute to round out the scoring of the match.

Othello 4

Ephrata 0

Juan Tapia recorded a first half hat trick and Othello put the game away early up 3-0 at intermission. The Huskies added a second half insurance goal to bring their total to 16 on the early season.

This one wasn’t an easy win by any means as the physical contest drew 13 yellow cards and one Tiger ejection.

“To be honest, we handled ourselves really good considering the circumstances,” Garza said. “They were just out played and could not come to terms to it and it resulted in them having to foul our guys constantly. Whatever their strategy was it did not work.”

With the match well in hand, Garza sat most of his starters in the second half.

“I subbed a lot as the ref was allowing a lot of physical play to go on, so I sat out most of my main players because I didn’t’ want to get anyone ejected or injured,” Garza said. “Why risk it, especially in a non-league game?”

The Huskies opened league play Tuesday at home against Toppenish, but the match was still being played went the paper went to press.