Manatee erases two-goal deficit for crucial district draw with Lakewood Ranch

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- After Manatee broke its huddle, cooled down and began to walk off the football field at Lakewood Ranch High School jubilant about its 3-3 draw Thursday, Vito Bavaro still stood in one end zone with his Lakewood Ranch team around him.

For the Mustangs, a 3-3 draw after a 3-1 lead was a disaster. The Hurricanes changed their formation, had a 50-50 call go their way and Ranch couldn't recover. A two-goal lead shrunk on a Canes penalty kick and finally vanished on a rocket goal by midfielder Edson Chavez. Bavaro's team folded as it missed chances and frustrations grew during an early season Class 5A-District 8 clash.

"We let them get in our heads a little bit," the Mustangs head coach said. "We had a couple bad calls against us and it kind of unnerved us a little bit. And I think the kids were getting to a point where they were more concerned about the refereeing than the game itself -- and they kind of lost track of themselves."

For most of the first half and the first 20 minutes of the second, Ranch (4-2-1, 2-0-1) seemed to be on the brink of running away from Manatee. The Hurricanes (1-1-1, 0-1-1) didn't get a single shot off during the run of play in the first half, scoring only on a penalty kick by midfielder Luis Segura-Gonzalez.

But ultimately it was the Mustangs who needed a last-second strike to tie the match 1-1 at halftime. On the final touch of the first half, midfielder Tyler Puhalovich launched a penalty shot into the top right corner of the net to salvage a score from a dominant period.

"We must've outshot 'em 20-1 first half," Bavaro said. "We just couldn't put the ball in the net."

So even when Ranch forward Ricky Yanez stole the ball from Canes defender Luke Greaves, and danced around defenders Tyler Robinson and Tommy Tyson for a go-ahead goal, Manatee could hang around. Even when Lakewood Ranch midfielder Connor Bezet midfielder stretched the lead with a cross that curled into corner of the net, the Hurricanes weren't done.

The Canes entered Thursday's match already down a trio of starters - goalkeeper Nickolas Null and midfielder Daniel Reyna are still occupied by football season, and defensive midfielder Logan Thomasson is recovering from a concussion - and they lost another in the first half when defender Devon Heaven injured his knee.

Still, the Mustangs could never finish off Manatee. The Hurricanes changed their formation, moving from a defensive 4-2-3-1 to an attacking 4-3-3 to stage a comeback during the final 20 minutes.

"The transition, the through balls to the corners were open for us," Canes head coach Jeff Hernden said, "and we were lucky enough to hit a couple."

The first one to hit set up Manatee's second penalty. This time Segura-Gonzalez was also responsible for drawing the shot when he was bumped in the box by attacking midfielder Max Geraci.

He finished from the spot. The Hurricanes cut the lead in half.

The next through ball to hit again went to Segura-Gonzalez. This time the junior was in the middle of the field with a chance to set up an equalizer. He looked to his left and picked out Chavez, who got a step on his defender. From the edge of the box he lofted a shot toward the net.

First the ball hit crossbar. Then it bounced across the line. The Canes' comeback was complete for a critical district draw.

"I can't be more pleased with the guys tonight," Hernden said. "They showed such great composure and I'm really, really encouraged. We've got a good shot coming up at district the next few games."

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Manatee erases two-goal deficit for crucial district draw with Lakewood Ranch ."