GARLAND — Playing a man down and with a junior varsity goalkeeper for the final 10 minutes of regulation and through extra time and penalty kicks, the Tyler Legacy Red Raiders found a way to advance in the postseason.
And when the Red Raiders needed a save, sophomore Nicholas Alfaro was there to make it to give Legacy a 4-3 advantage in the penalty kicks for a 2-1 win over Garland on Friday night at Williams Stadium.
“We’re very proud of them, the whole coaching staff,” Legacy head coach Marty Germany said. “This group has been so resilient this year. We didn’t go down in the game, but having the game in hand and then feeling like some bad calls went against us, we were able to fight through that. Even a man down, they were not all over us. We were controlling it quite a bit, but we just couldn’t get a good chance in the overtimes.”
Noe Robles scored his 26th goal 18 minutes into the contest. Landon Bravo delivered the ball to Robles for the finish. The Lady Raiders led 1-0 at halftime.
With about 10 minutes remaining, goalkeeper Tristan Whelchel called for a red card for handling the ball outside of the box. Not only did it disqualify Whelchel from Friday’s game and put the Red Raiders at a one-player disadvantage, Whelchel will also be forced to miss the Red Raiders’ next contest.
The Owls tied the match with about two-and-a-half minutes to play to for extra time. Despite being a man down, Legacy kept the game tied until penalty kicks.
Robles, Austin Beckham, Nate Eidam and Junior Avelar score the penalty kicks to put the Red Raiders up 4-3. Garland got the final chance, and Alfaro dove to his left to make the save and send the Red Raiders into the next round.
Legacy will take on Mansfield Lake Ridge in the area round. Time, date and location of the match are to be determined.