Boys soccer: Permian ends up shooting blanks

ABILENE Exuberance won out over experience Tuesday at Shotwell Stadium.

Fort Worth Paschal, making its first postseason appearance since 1997, beat Permian 2-0 in a Class 5A boys soccer bi-district playoff game.

Permian was in the playoffs for the third straight year and seemed to have found the formula for success after earning a share of the District 3-5A title.

However, a Permian defensive breakdown led to Paschal's game-opening goal in the 30th minute and it held up the rest of the way. Paschal (13-8-1) scored its second goal into an empty net with seven seconds to play as Permian (13-9-1) pressed for a goal.

Unfortunately for Permian, the one lapse in the back - which led to Paschal's Emmanuel Perez converting from close range after a long free kick - was all it took because its offense sputtered in the attacking third despite dictating the game's tempo.

"We never got into the flow of the game," Permian coach Luis Carmona said. "We started off strong, especially the first 20 minutes of the game. We started pressing them and started getting off shots, but I think we got a little bit too anxious. If we would've been a little bit more patient, I think it would've worked out."

Paschal advances to face El Paso Socorro (16-8), the fourth-place qualifier out of District 1-5A, in an area round game, while Permian will try to figure out what went wrong.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ethan Nichols earned the shutout with a solid game for Paschal, though he never had to make any spectacular saves. He only bobbled one shot - it came midway through the first half with the game still scoreless - but Permian had nobody in position to finish off the chance.

Nichols also was helped by defensive teammates Alex Koger, Cody Stratton, Ben Murray and Ruud Bojiseauneu, who often were in position to head away Permian crosses to keep the goal out of danger.

"Our composure and I think our fitness level showed through both halves, and that was the key for us, I think," Paschal coach Mark Townsend said. "We've been saying this is a playoff team for three years and we finally made it and we're doing something, so it's really a great feeling. That was a good team. I thought Permian hustled and worked and they were coming at you the whole time. If they would've scored in the second half, it was anybody's game, so we had to keep them out."

Permian had five corner kicks in the second half, including three in a frenzied final 10 minutes where Paschal almost hurt itself by failing to score on open looks as Permian pushed forward.

Paschal finally did get the icing goal from Bojiseauneu as Permian had its entire team pushed up for a corner kick with 30 seconds to play.

But the goal that really made a difference came with 10:33 left in the first half when Paschal's Jake Urbaniak - the best player on the field this game - hit a free kick a little more than 40 yards to open teammate Javi Rodriguez on the right wing.

Rodriguez had no trouble spotting Perez, who was wide open from about 8 yards away and hammered home a shot past helpless Permian goalkeeper Chris Benavides.

"We got unlucky on that goal they scored, but in the playoffs you've got to be on your toes at all times," Carmona said. "Really, that changed the tempo in the first half and that's when they started pressing us. In the second half, I still thought we had a good chance of coming back. We pressed them and pressed them, but we never really had any quality shots on their keeper. I think we had the personnel to get the results that we wanted, but unfortunately it didn't work out for us."

It's a bitter pill for a team that will return all but two players - Junior Helguera and Mark Sanford were Permian's only two seniors - and thought it could've gotten a head start on the future with a strong playoff run this season.

The zero on Permian's side of the scoreboard, though, proved to be a killer.

"We couldn't find the goal," Permian junior Alan Castillejos said. "That's all it takes it just to finish. We had several chances in the first half and several chances in the second half, but none of them went for us. It just didn't happen for us."