Story by:  Charlie Bateman (@CharlieBateman2)

Photos by:  JMS Sports Photography

On a header in the final two minutes of the game, the Ravenwood Raptors soccer team edged out a victory over the Independence Eagles 3-2 at home Friday night in the 11AAA district quarterfinal. 

"Every game is like this; they are going to give the old man a stroke at this rate," said Ravenwood head coach Adam Harris. "Both of their goals came on mistakes we made. We have got to clean that stuff up. Indy worked the entire time down 2-0 and did not quit."

 "This win means a lot," said Lipscomb commit Nick Dang. "We have a few games that we have wanted back in the regular season. We are just trying to show everyone what we can do."

 "It is a tough loss," said independence head coach Eric Bossman. "To go down 2-0 and fight back to 2-2, you feel like you have momentum in the second half. To give up a goal in the last two minutes of a set piece is a bitter pill to swallow."

In the first half, Ravenwood started the scoring with a missile just outside the box by junior Evan Waggoner with 14 minutes remaining to give the Raptors a 1-0 lead.

 Independence had chances to tie it, but Ravenwood goalie Rob Dill kept them off the board as the halftime score stayed 1-0.

 The Raptors continued to take advantage of their opportunities with a blast in the box by Dang almost 12 minutes into the second half to extend the Ravenwood lead 2-0.

Independence answered three minutes later with a penalty kick goal in the bottom left corner by junior Luke Monson to cut into the deficit 2-1. 

The Eagles scored with 20 minutes to go in the game on a goal by senior Ethan Thompson, sneaking it past the keeper to knot the score at 2.

"We talked about in the start of the second half trying to go at their center backs a little bit more," said Coach Bossman. "Ethan got a great first touch and finished to the far post."

In the final two minutes of the game, Dang executed a header on a pass by senior Jaydon Chisolm to secure the victory for Ravenwood 3-2.

"Jaydon's service made it easy for Nick to score that goal. Two seniors that did not want to lose and knew what they had to do to score." said Coach Harris. "I kept waiting for him (Nick) to take his mask off, but he has scored so many goals; maybe he needs to leave the mask on."

With the loss, Independence's season comes to a close.

"I am just going to remember the hard work these guys put in this year," said Coach Bossman. "A lot of them have been on varsity for a couple of years. I will miss the training sessions with them. As I told them after the game, hold your head up high."

Ravenwood will move on to face Brentwood on the road next Tuesday in the semifinal round of the district tournament.

"It will be a physical game, but we've just got to come out and play to give us a shot to win the game," said Dang.

"The game earlier this year was very physical," said Coach Harris. "It is going to be a really tough game. The boys are looking forward to it." 

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