ARLINGTON After enduring losses to Lake Stevens and Monroe, Arlington soccer looked like it was going to rebound by making a contest out of their game against M-P March 31.
Senior goalkeeper Keith Bayer endured shot after shot on goal, successfully holding off the Tomahawks with at least 12 saves and countless more stops against the scoring threats by the Marysville offense.
Unfortunately for Arlington, though, they were unable to muster the same kind of offensive fireworks against the Marysville squad and its rookie goalkeeper Erik Cruz, finally falling 1-0 in overtime.
M-P had plenty of opportunities to avoid the overtime period some were averted by Bayer saves, others by a fowards miscalculation and one or two by what seemed divine intervention. About four minutes into the second half, a hit by Arlington forward Schyler Furrer to M-P midfielder Brady Ballew earned Furrer a red card and the Tomahawks a penalty kick by senior Nick Burdett.
Diving toward the ball, Bayer deflected the shot that was aimed low and toward the middle of the net. But unable to grab the ball, it rolled back toward Burdett, who kicked it high for the rebound.
It bounced off of the top crossbar.
I thought for sure he had the rebound, Bayer remarked to a defensive teammate not long after as Marysville prepared to kick in from the corner.
The kick awarded after senior midfielder Mario Rodriguez was yellow carded proved equally fruitless to the Tomahawks.
We just cant find the goal, commented flabbergasted M-P assistant coach Gary Riozzi on the sideline.
But after 84 minutes, the Tomahawks finally did find the goal off the foot of Ballew, rendering the game over.
The strong defensive play by Arlington could only hold so long despite kicking woes by Marysville.
That was our biggest problem, we spent all our time on defense, said Arlington coach Mike Gudgeon. We played a defensive game, and when you spend that much time on defense, chances are ones going to sneak in, and thats what happened.
He also praised his team for their positive attitude after the discouraging loss to Monroe.
The kids really picked themselves up by the bootstraps and played a hard game. Im proud of them. It always hurts to lose one like this, he said.