Hernandez, Troy dominate Hope

After failing to score in 80 minutes of play Thursday night, Hot Springs managed to find its rhythm to roll to a 4-1 victory over Hope Friday at Reese Memorial Field.

“It was a typical 5A-South game,” said Hot Springs head coach Geoffrey Hedrick. “The difference is that yesterday, we operated off of what they made on their report card. Today, I went off of how they’re doing right now. We’re almost 90 percent. I’ve just got two guys out with injuries.”

Josue Hernandez picked up a hat trick on the night, scoring three of the four goals for the Trojans (6-3, 4-1 5A/6A-6).

Hernandez managed to get past most of the defenders in the first half, and his shot from 10 yards out went into the left corner of the net to put the Trojans up, 1-0, with 25:08 remaining on the clock.

With a 1-0 deficit at the break, the Bobcats (3-5, 1-4) came out strong in the second half, as Noel Balbuena headed the ball past Trojan goalkeeper Derrick Chambers to level the score, 1-1. The header came off a blocked shot by Balbuena that was deflected

The score remained unchanged until the 14:30 mark when Francisco Yanez had a penalty kick opportunity after a takedown in the box. Yanez kept the ball low and to the right to put the Trojans back in control of the game, 2-1.

“He’s an 11th grader,” Hedrick said. “Hopefully, he blooms into a leader. That’s what we’re trying to mold him into right now because we’re looking for next year’s captains, and he’s a good candidate.”

Just over three minutes later, Hernandez picked up his second goal of the night as his shot from about 12 yards out went over the right shoulder of Hope’s keeper to make it 3-1 with 10:43 remaining.

The junior midfielder quickly scored his third goal of the game, blasting the ball past the keeper

with 10:24 to go in the game.

“I just told our guys that we played 60 minutes of good soccer,” said Hope head coach Zac Hoglund. “We’ve just got to find a way to play 80 minutes. I think with that penalty kick down there with 14 minutes left, we kind of panicked a little bit, and we’ve got a young team, and when they panic, it’s not good for us.”

Chambers had a strong performance in goal, allowing just one goal while saving eight and blocking three other attempts.

“Derrick was in almost the whole game,” Hedrick said. “We’re blessed to have him. He’s a good kid.”

Wilfredo Yanez led in defense with one save and multiple blocks. Hernandez finished with six shots on target, and Yanez had three.

Hope’s Ezequel Monreal finished with eight saves and eight blocks on the night with four goals allowed.

“He had a good night,” Hoglund said. “He had a couple good ones in the first half to kind of keep them out of the net. He made one mistake there in the last 10 minutes to give up one we probably shouldn’t have given up.”

Christian Martinez led the attack for the Bobcats with three of four shots on goal.

“Christian is the key to our offense and keeps us moving,” Hoglund said. “He had a lot of shots on goal tonight. He’s not probably one of our great scorers, but he makes our offense move and go.”

Hot Springs will play host Class 4A Hamburg (7-2) Tuesday. Hope will travel to Pearcy to take on Lake Hamilton (5-4, 2-2).

Girls

Despite injuries taking out two Hope players in the first 10 minutes of the game, the Lady Bobcats managed to defeat Hot Springs, 2-0, Friday night at Reese Memorial Field.

The second injury of the match required an ambulance, sidelining both teams for nearly 30 minutes until the Lady Bobcat was taken off the field with 30:57 remaining on the clock in the first half.

“It was good for our girls to come back and play hard after seeing their teammate get hurt and get a win for their teammate,” Hoglund said.

Hot Springs head coach Heidi Springsteen agreed the long delay could have put both teams off-balance, but they continued to compete.

“For both teams, that was very challenging, and to fight back after that and come back out and be aggressive was challenging,” she said.

Both teams managed to get things rolling fairly quickly, and with 21:07 off the clock, Alejandra Clark put the ball in the back of the net. Unfortunately, for the Lady Trojans (0-7, 0-4 5A/6A-6), the goal was disallowed, leaving the game scoreless.

Nearly two minutes later, Hope (2-6, 2-3) had several attacks on the goal with multiple saves by Jennifer Aguilera, but after a shot by Hope’s Gaby Dominguez was deflected up by Aguilera, Dominguez put her head on the ball to send it just out of reach for Hope’s first goal with 19:39 remaining.

Hope’s second goal came near the halfway point of the second half. Dominguez got a shot from about 20 yards out, blasting the ball into the bottom left corner to secure the Lady Bobcats’ victory and series sweep after a 3-0 win in Hope March 13.

Hoglund noted Dominguez played a large part in the win, as seven of her 11 shots were on target.

“She’s probably the key to our offense when she’s having a good night,” he said.

Hope’s keeper, Evelyn Medina finished with eight saves and two blocks.

“She did a great job making a couple good saves when she probably had people standing in front of her,” Hoglund said. “She even did a good job in the first half, coming out and stopping one. She had a good night as well. She’s come a long way.”

Clark dominated the Lady Trojan offense with six shots on goal, and Maria Muniz excelled in defense, with a save and a block while quickly collecting loose balls and turning them around.

“Ideally, I like to play her more up front because she can move the ball up and score for us, but we needed her in sweep tonight,” Springsteen said of Muniz. “We had two players that couldn’t be here tonight, so we had to adjust some things. I think the girls adapted great.”

Aguilera finished with 10 saves on the night, many of which came in the 30-second barrage in the first half that led to Hope’s first goal, leading an impressive defensive effort.

“I count on all of them,” Springsteen said of her team’s defense. “Every one of them makes a difference. They all need to communicate back there, make sure they’re marking up, and our goalie had a lot of saves. This is new to her to play goal. I’m so proud of the girls for continuing to adjust and learn the positions and communicating. They have great heart, and they love to play.”

Hot Springs will host Class 4A Hamburg (2-6) Tuesday. Hope returns to Garland County Tuesday to take on Lake Hamilton (3-3, 1-3).