Boys soccer: Aguilar’s bookend goals help Ben Lomond upend Ogden 3-1
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- Ben Lomond’s Kevin Nuci, left, and Ogden’s Matt Browning battle for the ball on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ogden’s Parlely Gladwell (19) handles the ball between Ben Lomond’s Kevin Aguilar (15) and Kevin Nuci (18) on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ben Lomond’s Angel Hernandez (7) handles the ball as Ogden’s Parley Gladwell (19) challenges on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ben Lomond’s Anthony Ortiz prepares to strike the ball in a match against Ogden on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ogden’s Luis Velasco (15) kicks the ball as Ben Lomond’s Amir Odeh (6) challenges on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ben Lomond’s Job Stone, bottom, squeezes the ball as Ogden’s Luis Velasco (15) arrives on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ben Lomond’s Ricardo Garcia kicks the ball in a match against Ogden on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ogden’s Ben Points (8) gathers himself on the ground as Ben Lomond’s Angel Hernandez (7) runs to the ball on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
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- Ogden’s Jace Rodriguez possesses the ball against Ben Lomond on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at Ogden High School.
OGDEN — Ben Lomond High senior captain Kevin Aguilar scored bookend goals — one in the opening minutes and the other in the closing seconds — and the storyline on the pages in between was of a dominant defense, as the Scots shut down a red-hot Ogden offense on the pitch Wednesday.
The Scots avenged a loss last month at home and split the season series with the Tigers, capturing a 3-1 road Region 13 victory.
Aguilar got the Scots on the board just 5 minutes and 11 seconds into the match when he headed in a free kick by Fernando Marquez from way out on the east sideline.
“They weren’t ready; they weren’t positioned right with everybody and didn’t expect us to come out and score right there,” Aguilar said. “It was very good; straight to my head.”
In a kind of karma moment, Aguilar said it was the free kicks that the Tigers scored on in their 4-1 win in March that led to the Scots demise on March 20.
“We weren’t ready for the free kicks they had the first time. They were very quick and straight in. We practiced that a lot and expected it to come again,” Aguilar said.
That early goal stood up until the 55th minute when Amir Odeh netted a penalty kick for the Scots (2-6, 2-3 Region 13), giving them what seemed to be an insurmountable 2-0 lead.
But Ogden (6-3, 3-2) countered with a PK of its own 12 minutes later by captain Ben Points and suddenly it was 2-1 with 11:37 remaining.
“We thought the game was over, that we were going to win it right there (up 2-0), but their goal changed our whole momentum,” Aguilar said. “Everyone knows when you score a goal, the momentum is to score another and I was really scared.”
Ogden then had three point-blank shots on goal in the next five minutes, but Ben Lomond keeper Oscar Castro turned all of them away.
“My coach said just forget about that goal, so that’s what I did and that’s what helped me make those saves,” Castro said. “Just do what I can do.”
With the pressure mounting on the Scots, Aguilar burst the Ogden bubble when he nudged in the clincher in front of the goal with 48 seconds left.
“I thought the defender had it and I was waiting for him to mess up,” Aguilar said. “It came to me and I tapped it right in.”
The Tigers had outscored opponents 17-2 in their last three games and it took a heroic team effort for the Scots to cage the cats on Wednesday.
“My teammates are the ones who helped to cheer me up and focus on this. I wanted to do it for them,” Castro said. “It wasn’t me, but my team who did it for me. They were doing an excellent job and it made me look better because of them. Everybody backing me up helped me motivate myself.”