Sun., Feb. 18th, 2007 Abilene boys beat Lee
Derek Weinbrenner
Midland Reporter-Telegram
02/18/2007
The Abilene boys soccer team made it a sweep of the Lee boys and girls teams by eking out a 1-0 win over the Rebels in a shootout on Saturday at Grande Communications Stadium. Abilene High (6-4-1 overall, 2-2 District 3-5A) converted one attempt in the shootout but it was enough. Back-up goalkeeper Nelson Mota not only shut out Lee in regulation, but he shut out all five Rebel shooters in the shootout.
The Eagles' No. 1 keeper, Neil Biggs, was knocked out for the season with a broken collar bone he suffered against Abilene Cooper on Feb. 9. Scott Irias, Abilene High's third shooter, converted the shootout goal. Both squads threw everything they had at each other on offense, creating many scoring opportunities, but no one could finish. Lee (4-5-1, 1-3) begrudgingly took the loss, believing it had outplayed the Eagles except for the shootout. It won both the corner kicks and shots on goal 6-4.
"I felt that we outplayed them. We just couldn't finish," junior Michael Robertson said. "It's too bad (we lost the shootout). We outplayed them." It appeared Lee might be on the verge of breaking out after beating first-place Odessa Permian on Tuesday, but this shootout loss left Lee coach Chris Bryant shaking his head at the district rules. "We possessed the ball in the Abilene High end (for most of the game). To finish the game on a shootout (is terrible)," Bryant sternly said. "Six years I've been trying to pass (an elimination of shootouts). It's not the first time this season a team plays well and the team gets screwed."