WARREN, Ark. – Coming from behind, the Warren Lumberjack Soccer Club defeated 4A East Conference rivals Hamburg, scoring a winner three minutes from the whistle Friday night, April 8, 2022 at Jim Hurley, Jr. Stadium in Warren in front of the biggest conference game crowd this season.
On the night, Warren was the better side, but in the opening fifteen minutes of play, a positive outcome for the orange and black was far from certain. Hamburg shot out of the blocks fast with a goal in the third minute to take a 1-0 lead.
Warren nearly tied things up in the seventh minute as a Jose Garcia corner was caught by the Hamburg keeper, but he nearly carried the ball over the line. The score remained 1-0 Hamburg.
This River Region Sports Report is brought to you by:
The Lions pounced on another opportunity in the twelfth minute, as junior winger Thomas Franco received the ball out wide, cut back inside onto his left foot, and curled in a shot beyond the outstretched right hand of Warren’s keeper. The finish was as clinical as they come. It looked like the Lions might just run away with the win if they could grab one more goal.
Hamburg nearly added that other goal in the thirty-fourth minute, but Warren goalkeeper Jessie Cortes made a superb save, catching and holding onto a blasted shot. It was the kind of save which almost feels like a goal scored. Momentum swung just a bit in Warren’s favor after the denial.
Less than a minute later, Warren was given a free kick from about thirty yards out. Hector Torres curled a paced shot at the Hamburg keeper, who was only able to push it out a few yards. The rebound fell perfectly for Warren’s Aaron Romero. He poked it home to cut the Lion lead to 2-1 just before the halftime break.
Four minutes into the second half the comeback was nearly derailed. Hamburg put the ball into the box in a dangerous area and a Warren defender slid in to make the tackle. The referees whistle blew and he pointed to the spot for a Hamburg penalty.
Hamburg’s Franco stepped up to take it. He drove a low shot to Cortes’s right, but the Lumberjack keeper guessed correct. The save was made and Warren’s hopes of a comeback were still intact.
Cortes’s work was far from over. He would make another incredible save in the fifty-ninth minute.
In the sixty-seventh Warren almost equalized. Alann Juarez isolated the Hamburg right back deep in Lion territory, took it almost out of play at the goal line, whipped in a beautiful cross to Jose Garcia, but the right winger’s foot just missed the ball.
Two minutes later Juarez himself nearly equalized for Warren off of a free kick. He jumped high, but couldn’t connect on the header near goal.
Inside the last five minutes of play Warren applied the press. Tarion Marshall came in at left wing for the orange and black as head coach Cody Jones made a few formational changes late on. Marshall’s pace gave Hamburg fits. As the Lion defense was stretched by Marshall’s presence down the left and Garcia’s down the right, that opened space in the middle of the park for Lumberjack midfielder Hector Torres.
In the seventy-sixth minute Torres cannoned a shot into the left side of the goal, to the right of the Hamburg keeper to pulls things back to all-square with less than four minute’s remaining.
As Hamburg looked more unsteady and uncomfortable which each passing second, the Lumberjacks turned up the aggression in hopes of a winner.
The winner came in the seventy-eight minute, just two minutes before the final whistle. After a bit of sustained pressure, Garcia drifted from the right wing and into the central part of the pitch just outside of the six-yard box. He received a ball as he was cutting left of goal, and calmly slotted it past the keeper low and at his near post.
Garcia’s goal was enough to secure the win, as the Lumberjacks defeated Hamburg 3-2 at full-time in incredible fashion.
Coach Cody Jones heaped praise on his team in his post-game speech, not only for the goal-scorers, but also on the defense for reversing the pattern of play from the opening minutes. He also was high on Jessie Cortes and his effort at keeper.
Top photo: Hector Torres(center) and Oliver Chavez(12) celebrate with Jose Garcia(left) after Garcia scores the winning goal vs. Hamburg Friday night.
