See-saw battle ends with Falcon victory

Part two of the cross-town doubleheader was a thriller from the opening kick all the way until the final goal was scored to end play, with the visiting Falcons ecstatic to escape with a 4-3 victory over the Beavers.  The teams traded goals midway through the first half, with freshman Kameron Kascht scoring an unassisted goal for the Falcons to tie the score at 1-1.  Neither team would score again in the first half, but the Beavers grabbed the lead early in the second half with a long shot that just cleared the reach of Falcon goalkeeper Armin Salimi.  The Falcons immediately responded with another Kascht goal - this one assisted by Ricky Miranda – to tie the score at 2-2.  When Kascht added his third goal of the night – his first Hat Trick as a Falcon - with just 10 minutes to play, it looked like the Falcons were on their way to a 3-2 victory.  As the clock hit the 90 minute mark, the referee indicated there would be 3+ minutes of stoppage time yet to play.  The Beavers then made good use of the time, scoring the tying goal in the 91^st minute and erupting in joy over what looked like a tie.  As the clock continued to wind down and no one sure of exactly how much time remained, the Falcons earned a corner kick.  Ricky Miranda sent the ball high towards the goal area, where sophomore teammate Pablo Herrera leapt and headed the ball into the net.  At that very instant, the referee blew his whistle to indicate the end of the match, a miraculous 4-3 Falcon win.

"That was the most entertaining match I've ever seen," remarked Falcon coach Justin Johnson.  "The emotional swings – from a win, to a tie, to a win – were crazy." 

The Falcons, now 7-0-4 and tied for 2^nd in the Big 8 at 2-0-1, will host Cosumnes River (0-7-3, 0-3 in Big 8) on Tuesday evening at 6:30 pm.