Hastings High's Manuel Garcia (from left), Rudy Escobar,
Lukas Stuker and Christian Lomax celebrate their win over
Norfolk Saturday at HHS.
Christian Lomax has his first two varsity starts under his belt now as the goalkeeper for the Hastings High boys soccer team.
And in both, he's been put to the test.
For the second straight game to open the 2013 season, the Class B No. 10 Tigers had to survive in six rounds of penalty kicks, knocking off Norfolk 2-1 thanks to a 4-3 advantage in the shootout Saturday at Hastings High.
The Tigers also won their season opener in a six-round shootout against Holdrege on Thursday.
"We haven't gone into a shootout scenario in practice," HHS coach Mike Nanfito said. "When it came down to it on Thursday and when it came down to it today, we picked our boys and we said to pick your spot and finish.
Girls
Working in the attacking third of the field, Hastings High freshman Chloe Swoboda had a few early chances at the net against Norfolk but couldn't get a break.
At one point, she had a one-on-one toward the net, but her shot was caught underneath the sliding Panther goalkeeper.
But finally, Swoboda hit on her third attempt — a floating header into the corner off an entry pass from sophomore Alex Schmidt — putting the Tigers on the board 18 minutes into the contest.
The offense was only heating up from there, as the Tigers ended up scoring all of their goals in the first half of a 3-0 win over the Panthers on a chilly Saturday afternoon at the HHS soccer fields.
Head coach Chris Pedroza has always stressed to his team that it needs to attack and push for a goal in the first 10 minutes of the contest. But on Saturday, he needed a little more patience.
To read more, see Monday's Hastings Tribune or the Tribune e-edition.>>>
