Angel Gonzalez(#7 on right) battles with a Harris midfielder for possession of the ball on Saturday.
Looking for tougher and more physical competition for his Rocket soccer team, Coach Jonathan Graf always circles the Red Raider Invitational Tournament on his calendar. “It gives us a chance to see the kind of good competition we need to see to get us ready for the conference tournament” said Graf on Saturday as his team finished the tournament with a record of 2 and 2.
Opening up on Friday, Westwood pummeled Whitworth-Buchanan 9 to 0. Westwood got 4 goals and an assist from Angel Gonzalez to lead the attack. John Martinez scored twice and had 3 assists. Lucas Workman had a pair of goals and a pair of assists while Jonathan Sherrill added a goal and Elliot Sain notched an assist. In game #2, Westwood was blanked 3 to 0 by Algood which put them in the Silver Pool for Saturday’s bracket play.
The Rockets opened up Saturday afternoon against Harris and grabbed an early lead when Workman found the back of the net in the 5th minute. Harris turned up the offensive pressure in the 18th minute forcing Westwood keeper Brody Todd to make 3 great saves in a 90 second span. The Eagles finally broke through on an apparent missed off-sides call to tie the game at 1 in the 20th minute. The Eagles added a goal 2 minutes later to take a 2 to 1 lead into the half. In the second half, the deeper Harris squad used multiple substitutions to notch goals in the 52nd and 56th minutes against a tired Rocket squad.
In the silver bracket consolation game, Westwood rallied from an early Blackman goal to claim a 6 to 2 win. The Flames scored in the 2nd minute to take an early lead before Westwood rallied for 5 goals in an 11 minute span to take a 5 to 1 lead in the half. Each team netted 2nd half goals as Westwood claimed the win. John Martinez had the hat trick for Westwood scoring 3 goals. Angel Gonzalez added 2 goals and an assist while Lucas Workman had a goal and 2 assists.
Westwood returns to the pitch on Tuesday when they play host to North Franklin. That match gets underway at 5:30 PM.
