MARYSVILLE Down a goal already, an early red flag forced the Tomahawks to come back against Wesco North-leading Lake Stevens who were down a man too.
With determination, the boys of Marysville-Pilchuck soccer did just that, fighting back to tie the April 19 match 1-1, without the assistance of junior striker Jordan Salcedo.
The Lake Stevens Vikings notched their lone goal in the games first five minutes and not long after, Salcedo was called for a violent foul, ejecting him from the game, according to M-P head coach Kyle Suits.
The teams struggled back and forth across the field, but the Tommies kept Lake Stevens on defense much of the first period. M-P threw a number of looks at Viking goalkeeper Kurt Holt, but the Tomahawks only success came with less than 15 minutes to halftime.
With 13:14 left in the half, sophomore E.J. Sevon found himself with the ball about halfway into Viking territory. As five Lake Stevens defenders closed in around him, Sevon unleashed the ball, and made the rather unlikely goal.
M-P took few attempts in the remainder of the first half, the most notable coming from a corner kick by junior Nick Burdett to the front of the net.
In the second half, the teams continued to trade blows, but the Tomahawks found themselves playing a lot more defense. Senior midfielders Clayton West and Chad Deaver saw a lot of time with the ball, their attempts to move it up the field resulting in an attempt on goal for the lead by Deaver around the 55-minute mark.
The M-P midfield and defensive crew struggled to get the better of throw-ins, too, which Lake Stevens capitalized on, often gaining a quarter to half the field and keeping pressure on the Tommies defense.
Senior goalkeeper Kaleb Kuehn came up with more than a half dozen blocks in the second half, but perhaps the biggest came courtesy junior defender Sayer Torkkola. With about 16:30 left in the second period, Lake Stevens passed the ball from a crowded left side of the field to a virtually empty right side. The Lake Stevens striker bore down upon the goal and as Kuehn crossed the net to prepare for the kick, Torkkola came out of nowhere with a huge diving block, eliciting cheers from the M-P crowd.
The M-P defense held Lake Stevens to the tie in two periods of overtime. A corner kick by Burdett gave the Tomahawks their last, best chance for the win. It ended inches from the goal, on top of the Lake Stevens net with 2:40 left in the first overtime.
Lake Stevens is at the top of the league, tied for first. This was a major performance against a top team, with a man down, Suits said he told his players after the game.
We tried to keep fresh bodies on the field, Suits added, saying he cycled players through more frequently against the Vikings to help give the Tomahawks the boost they needed to press Lake Stevens offensively in the 10 minutes of overtime.