Jaguar Pablo Taborga (No. 10, center) battles a tenacious defender
Jonatan Muñoz, International
Jaguars trailed 3-1
Co-operative scrambles back to beat International, 4-3
By Andre Candia
International School
The Co-operative School varsity boys soccer team came back from the dead Thursday afternoon.
The Jaguars scored three goals in the final ten minutes to erase a two goal deficit and achieve a 4-3 victory over the International School Griffins, 4-3 in a hard-fought, emotionally-charged game on the Jaguars’ home field.
Andres Querejazu played the key role in the comeback, scoring all three of the Jaguars tallies in the comeback. Jaguar captain Pablo Taborga scored the Jaguars only goal of the first half on a free kick.
Daniel Baldivieso scored twice for the Griffins, and Tommy Marcos once.
Baldivieso started the scoring with a header shot early in the first half. After that both teams’ defense was solid until Marcos scored on a free kick, making the score 2-0 for International.
A few minutes later Co-operative was awarded a free kick, and Taborga rifled an amazing shot into the upper corner of the goal that was impossible for Griffin goalkeeper Mauricio Nostas to reach.
The score stood 2-1 at halftime, during which Griffin coach Andrew Dolson told his players not to get over-confident, and to keep pushing.
They did keep pushing. Baldivieso stretched the International lead to 3-1 with a left-footed shot mid-way through the second half, and it looked like everything was going the Griffins’ way.
Then Querejazu struck. His first goal came with 10 minutes remaining on the game clock. His second came on a corner kick by Taborga. Querejazu flashed toward the goal as Taborga’s kick approached, and appeared to be horizontal in the air when his head hit the ball into the goal.
His final goal to seal the victory seemed to be an act of sheer will power as he swerved through the International defense, evaded the last defender, and smacked the ball into the goal at short range.
Jaguar coach Orlando Taja jokingly suggested after the game that International may have made a strategic error in getting two goals ahead. “We always play better when we’re behind.”
Dolson took a philosophical approach in talking to his players after the game. “We have to learn from this experience,” he told them. “We can outplay them.”
Both teams played hard, and this was reflected in the large number of yellow cards – four for International and three for Co-operative. At one point near the end of the game tempers were flaring, and yellow cards were given to players on each team at the same time.
The starting team for International: Mauricio Nostas (goalkeeper), Eduardo Bedoya, Tommy Marcos, Rafael Ribeiro, Jonathan Paz, Daniel Baldivieso, Alex Roempler, Nicolas Bedoya, Jan Ivo Shostig, Jorge Harriague, and Daniel Roempler.
For Co-operative: Pablo Limpias (goalkeeper), Oliver Jones, Mateus de Carvalho, Federico Sauto, Jorge Rojas, Juan G.. Peredo, Esteban Espinoza, Cristóbal Roda,
Pablo Taborga, Esteban Cronenbold, and Jose Manuel Vasquez.
Christian Learning shuts out Cambridge, 2-0
Christian Learning scored one time in each half to defeat Cambridge, 2-0, on the Eagles home field. Esteban Eguez and David Lotz scored for the winning Eagles. Cambridge, which has now gone two straight games without scoring, had numerous opportunities, but was unable to cash in on them.
Further details to follow.
