Park View's Comeback Leaves Teams Even

Potomac Falls Overcomes Red Card

By Paul Tenorio

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Potomac Falls scored three goals after going a man down in the second half on Tuesday night against Park View and twice held two-goal leads.

But the Panthers could not hold off the relentless Patriots, who scored twice one minute apart late in the second half to earn a 3-3 tie in a critical Virginia AA Dulles District matchup in Sterling.

Two free kick goals from All-Met forward Uche Onyeador and a tremendous individual effort by junior midfielder Joe Baires gave Potomac Falls (8-1-3, 6-1-3) a 3-1 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

A shot from close distance on the left side by Pedro Mendoza pulled Park View to within one with 9 minutes 4 seconds remaining.

And a header from Andres Contreras a minute later tied the score to complete the comeback and earn Park View (8-2-2, 6-2-2 AA Dulles) an important point in what is shaping up to be a tight district title race.

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Potomac Falls vs. Park View

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Potomac Falls' Wilfredo Z. Alvarez Lairana is able to head this Park View kick away from their goal. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Potomac Falls' Uche M. Onyeador drives past Park View's Jorge Parada. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Potomac Falls' Joe E. Baires (in the center) scores the first goal of the game. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Potomac Falls' Alex K. Borowski heads a ball in front of Potomac Falls' goal. In blue is Park View's Andres Contreras. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Potomac Falls' Joe E. Baires tries to keep the ball on a drive from Potomac Falls' Jose Garcia. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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“I think it’s a tribute to some of the seniors that have been here for a while in this program, a tribute to those guys not to quit and to keep playing,” Park View Coach Arturo Jimenez said. “I think we found out that we can come back on a good team and play.”

Potomac Falls goalkeeper Nic Johnson was red-carded five minutes into the second half when he arrived late on a challenge outside the box, but the card seemed to energize an attack that had struggled to get anything started in the first half.

Less than two minutes after Johnson was sent off, the Panthers took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Baires, who made a weaving 50-yard run down the right sideline and finished with a right-footed shot from inside the 18-yard box.

The Panthers took a 2-0 lead seven minutes later on Onyeador’s first goal of the night. Onyeador was taken down on the left side from about 25 yards out to earn a free kick, and his seemingly harmless kick knuckled down and off the hands of the Park View goalkeeper and into the net.

Park View pulled one back when the Potomac Falls goalkeeper came out too early, giving midfielder Pedro Mendoza an open goal. But Onyeador’s second free kick of the night from just on top of the 18-yard box cleared the wall and found the upper netting to restore the two-goal cushion.

The goal was Onyeador’s 20th on the season and the 121st in his career, leaving the reigning Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year just four shy of breaking the Virginia career goal scoring record. But the two-goal lead would not be enough.

Park View attacked with a sense of urgency, and Mendoza’s shot made it 3-2. One minute later, a pinpoint diagonal ball from Kevin Santos found Contreras, and his header back across the goal to the near post tied the score.

“Being down is always tough, but if you have the heart and you want to win like we did tonight, and you put everything on the line and just go for it, you have nothing to lose,” Contreras said. “It was very important because with a loss we would have been in fourth or fifth place, and now with this tie we put [Potomac Falls] still behind us.”

For Potomac Falls, the tie only added to the letdowns the powerhouse has felt throughout the season.

“Up 3-1 with 10 minutes to go, it’s demoralizing to have that type of lead with a man down, and even though you end up with a tie, it feels like a loss, really,” Potomac Falls Coach Dave Gryder said. “I feel good about our offense, I feel most of the time good about our defense, but these breakdowns that end up costing us goals at inopportune times, it’s very hard for us to keep going through these same breakdowns.”

Tagged: Park View High School, Potomac Falls High School, soccer

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