Central soccer team strikes late to beat Bluff 2-1

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Central just pressed a little bit more late in Thursday's soccer game at Poplar Bluff.

The Tigers were tied or trailed a majority of the game but came through with two goals about three minutes apart with less than 10 minutes to play to pull out a 2-1 victory at Whiteley Park.

With 9:17 left to play Central senior Matt Chism crossed a pass across the goal mouth to teammate Preston Mecum, who buried it past Mules goalkeeper Jose Reyes to tie the game at 1-1.

Nearly three minutes later, Tigers junior Luke Kinder put in the eventual game-winner from far outside the box.

"That was great," Central coach Dan Martin said. "We've been talking about shooting from [outside] the 18, and he did it. It was a good shot. I don't know if he saw the keeper cheating a little bit and he hit. But that was a good shot."

Poplar Bluff coach Steve Edwards credited both teams for a hard-fought game.

"They had two good goals and it was a well-played game," Edwards said. "Both teams put it on the line and Cape's a real good team and I thought our boys played and measured up well."

The Mules (1-6) were effective early and might have caught the Tigers on their heels.

"Bluff outplayed us that whole first half, and I was not shocked that we were down 1-0," Martin said. "We didn't come ready to play and they did."

Twenty-two minutes into the game, Poplar Bluff freshman Jeff Hardin got a wide right angle, took a straight-line pass from junior Javier Rivera, beat a Tigers defender and put the ball in the far corner of the net.

"We got a pass straight to him and he made a strike on the ball," Edwards said. "It went in the back of the net and it was pretty."

Two minutes later, Mules senior Omar Gomez had two great scoring chances but couldn't crack Central goalkeeper Nathan Mecum. Gomez got in one-on-one and Mecum came out for the save. The ball was played out to the perimeter and was sent back in, but Gomez just missed the net on a header.

Mecum made six saves on the game.

"I thought he played a solid game," Martin said. "We were struggling through 80 minutes and he held us in there."

Central (6-6) had also beat the Mules 3-1 in the Notre Dame SoccerFest.

"We are fortunate to get that win," Martin said about Thursday's game. "I'm happy for my boys that they were able to equalize and then get ahead. But if you don't play 80 minutes, sometimes you don't get that result."

The Mules and Tigers will play a third time on Oct. 1 at Central.