Jefferson Boys Soccer Gets Late Goal

September 9, 2010

Lafayette Jefferson High School

Lee's late goal lifts Jeff past WL

By NATHAN BAIRD • nbaird@jconline.com • September 9, 2010

If Lafayette Jeff's boys soccer team didn't already know to look for Anthony Lee in the frantic final seconds of a match, it does now.

For the second time in a week, Lee's last-minute goal lifted the Bronchos over a county rival. This time, he scored with 32 seconds left to give Jeff a 3-2 victory over West Lafayette at the Salisbury Athletic Complex on Wednesday.

Lee scored with 1:38 left in Jeff's 2-1 victory over McCutcheon on Sept. 1.

"I thought I was offsides in the beginning, because I was just like, 'Whatever. If this goes in then maybe I'll be off, maybe I won't,' " said Lee, who was assisted by Freddie Cruz. "I'm glad I was there at the right time to just hit that in."

Lee's goal capped a back-and-forth final 20 minutes. Broncho junior Maurice Peitz, an exchange student from Germany playing his second game, scored in the 63rd minute to give Jeff (3-5-1) a 2-1 lead.

Less than two minutes later, West Lafayette senior Tyler Heister got off a shot in a crowd that found the back of the net to tie it. Afterward, the Red Devils (4-4) lamented their inability to score on several first half chances.

"We came out harder in the second half, knowing we needed a goal," Heister said. "If we would have put away one or two in the first half, we would have shut them down and they would have been down in the dumps and not able to score, hopefully."

Jeff senior Doug Baker scored off of Taylor Childers' assist in the 27th minute to give the Bronchos a 1-0 lead. West Lafayette junior Marcus Siegmund scored less than four minutes into the second half to tie it.

Will Paget saved four shots in goal for Jeff, which caught a break when WL senior Zach Tudor's open shot in the 71st minute bounced off the goalpost.

West Lafayette sophomore Gaurav Mittal recorded seven saves while filling in for Michael Ooms, who missed his third game due to injury.

A regional rematch could await these teams if both repeat as sectional champions. Peitz said, despite his brief tenure with the team, he could appreciate the rivalry.

"Last year we also won, and we had to win (Wednesday's) game," said Peitz, who couldn't compete until he had completed 10 practices. "It was important for us and for soccer at the school."