The setting looked all too familiar to Doug Desmarteau and his Allen Community College soccer team.
For the third game in a row, the Red Devils let a slim lead slip away, this one to visiting Cloud Community College Tuesday afternoon.
Desmarteau’s hope: that ACC could prevent the loss, something it was unable to do in its to previous overtime sessions.
Sophomore Dorian Fox was there to ensure the third (over) time was the charm.
Fox was there when a Ben Loflin blast ricocheted off the sidepost with just under six minutes left in the overtime. Fox was able to react quicker than the Cloud goalkeeper, punching in the miss, prompting a euphoric roar from his Red Devil teammates.
“It all happened so fast, that you really don’t have time to think,” Fox said. “I saw that after the ricochet that their goalkeeper didn’t get back in time. An opportunity presented itself, and I was able to finish the job.”
Allen’s 2-1 win evens the Red Devils’ record at 3-3 overall and 1-1 in Jayhawk Conference and Region VI play.
“This was a big win for us,” Desmarteau said. “Cloud is a very good team. Both teams are good. We finally found a way to pull out a win.”
The win likely would not have been possible without the late-game heroics of ACC goalkeeper Victor Ortega, who stymied a handful of point-blank Thunderbird shots in the waning moments.
“Victor had a couple of brilliant saves,” Desmarteau said. “Our back line did a nice job today.”
Cloud, which evened the score at 1-1 on a Kerbson Lubin goal midway through the second half, briefly looked to have a lead on a goal with about 90 seconds left in the match.
But the goal was disallowed because a Thunderbird player was called offside as the Cloud players began to celebrate.
“I saw the referee put his flag up immediately, so I knew it wasn’t going to count,” Ortega said. “I just had to step up and do what I could. It was good to get an overtime and a conference win.”
Cloud came up empty on a couple of early scoring opportunities — Ortega’s leaping save of a ball he deflected off the top crossbar was a highlight — while Dallas Fiszel gave Allen a 1-0 lead on a goal with 7:42 left in the first half. Oscar Marrufo was credited with the assist.
The lead stood until Cloud, the 20th ranked team in the nation, opened the second half with another round of offensive pressure. Loflin’s goal with 23:53 left in the game evened the score.
Allen travels to Great Bend Saturday to take on Barton County.
Allen wins overtime thriller
