Sun., Mar. 11th, 2007 High School Boys Soccer: Rebels win second straight
Derek Weinbrenner
Midland Reporter-Telegram
The Lee boys found it within themselves to continue playing as a team and used a bench-length advantage to beat reeling Odessa Permian 2-1 Saturday at Grande Communications Stadium for their second-straight victory. Lee coach Chris Bryant constantly subbed in and out to keep fresh legs on the pitch. Permian coach Luis Carmona did not have the same luxury as his bench had huge gaps in it and Bryant's was littered with spares.
"We weren't consistent. We had internal problems this last week, but we came ready to play," Bryant said. "We train all the time on conditioning and you could tell towards the end (the Panthers) were having a hard time keeping up."
It also helped Lee (7-7-1 overall, 4-5 District 3-5A) that Permian (10-7-0, 5-5) came in on a four-game losing streak and have been dealing with their own internal problems.
"We started losing focus, not catching our breaks," Carmona said of the now five-game skid that has dropped his team from first- to third-place. "We're not capitalizing. Guys are getting frustrated. Good teams need to stick together in good and bad times."
The Panthers were missing two players because of too many cards and lost another one for the next match when forward Casey Sharp received his second yellow of the match in the 38th minute, resulting in a red card and ejection.
Lee has now created its first winning streak of the district season and is a half game behind Permian and Midland High for the fourth and final playoff spot.
"I guess we just want it more now," goalkeeper Danny Muñoz said.
Zack Starnes got Lee rolling with a deep ball into the penalty box that skipped into the net by way of a Panther head in the fifth minute.
Sharp evened things nine minutes later by pounding in a cross-goalbox pass from Lukas Garcia.
The Rebels continued to hound Permian and scored the deciding goal in the 59th minute. Keaton Kinzer one-timed a cross to Montiel Urias, who appeared to head the ball just in front of the line. Brandon Hodges finished it, but Urias was credited with the goal.
