Lady Tigers soccer outlasted by Desert Mirage

IMPERIAL - The Imperial High School Lady Tigers stepped out to Shimamoto Simpson Stadium for their second soccer home game of the season Tuesday, Nov. 23, versus Desert Mirage in a match where the visitors executed a 4-2 come-from-behind victory.   

Imperial sported their home reds and came out blazing hot as the Lady Tigers controlled the ball and fired off three shots on goal in the first 5 minutes of action, but none hit home. In minute 14, Ariana Peraza followed up a free kick and booted a roller to open net which Denisa Aragon toe-tapped in from point-blank range. The Lady Tigers took a 1-0 lead early in the opening half.

The Lady Tigers continued to dominate time of possession with station-to-station passes that found momentary holes in the Lady Rams’ midfield. 

At minute 21, it appeared Desert Mirage nailed the equalizer proceeding an outlet breakaway score but the referee declared offsides and the home team’s lead remained at 1-0.

Right before the end of the half, the Lady Rams treated again and penetrated into the Imperial backline. The Lady Tiger defenders framed the box and once again fended off the tying shot.

Imperial remained ahead 1-0 at halftime.

Desert Mirage came out in the second half with a different look as the Lady Rams pressed more from midfield and ran more set plays on offense.

Seven minutes into the second stanza, the Lady Rams’ strikers lured out Imperial’s goalkeeper on a breakaway then followed up a deflected kick with a boot into the back of the net. Desert Mirage evened up the contest at 1-1.

The Lady Tigers situated a scoring opportunity immediately after. Jadyn Coon initiated a corner kick with a left footed bender and Jossalyh Rodriguez hopped up and bounced a chest-shot into the goal-box. Imperial reclaimed the lead at 2-1.

Midway into the final period, Desert Mirage bombarded the Lady Tiger box with strikers and took advantage of a well-placed goal-shot that got lost in the wash. The Lady Rams capitalized on the scrum kicked in the loose ball for the 2-2 tying shot.

The dramatics magnified in the final five minutes of the match as both teams fought to break the knot.

Desert Mirage made the go-ahead move with a break-away back door blast. Sighs bellowed from the home-side as the visitors pulled ahead 3-2.

The roof caved in for Imperial when a red card was called before a Desert Mirage penalty kick attempt. The kick was successful, and the Lady Tigers found themselves short a player and down two-points in the final minutes.

Imperial was unable to bounce back from the preceding damage as the final whistle blew on a 4-2 final in favor of Desert Mirage.

The loss brings the Lady Tigers record to .500 at 1-1.