Over the course of its last 20 matches, the Real Salt Lake-Arizona U-18 Academy team posted a 19-0-1 record. Over the course of those 20 matches – 1800 minutes – the top team in the USSDA’s Western Conference leaders trailed for just eight total minutes.
So on Tuesday when it faced Shattuck-St. Mary’s from Minnesota in the quarterfinal round of the USSDA National Tournament, it was virtually uncharted waters when RSL-AZ found itself a goal behind in the 67th minute. However, the record-setting team based out of Casa Grande, Arizona, got two goals from Edgar Duran, including one deep into stoppage time to send the team to the national semifinals for the third consecutive season.
“It was really tough. Usually we score the first goal and then we destroy teams after that. Today was a different story. Once they scored on us we had to adjust a little bit,” Duran said after the match. “The big key when they scored on us was to be patient. We had to keep pressing as high as we can and keep shooting, but we had the mentality to not give up, be patient and it all worked out.”
RSL-AZ went on the man-advantage in the 50th minute when Shattuck-St. Mary’s had a player sent off for a second yellow card. However, that seemed to light a fire for the visitors who kept their defensive composure until finally breaking through with the first goal in the 67th minute.
Now trailing a goal, RSL-AZ was up against a team that could take on an even more defensive posture, leaving just long-range shots. After 12 minutes, Duran found the equalizer off a ball from Damian German, who tied for the team-lead with 34 goals on the season.
RSL continued to fight for a game-winner and it finally came in stoppage time with the second goal of the match for Duran. Three minutes into stoppage time, Duran unleashed a blast from 30 yards that found the net to give RSL-AZ the 2-1 win and send it to the next round of the USSDA playoffs.
“I knew that we had to push when we got scored on,” Duran said. “The coaches told me to keep pressing and they parked the bus on us, but kept shooting from distance and we got two goals in like 10 minutes.”
The RSL-AZ U-18s will be joined by the other three winners from the quarterfinals in advancing to the Academy Championships. The semifinals will take place on July 16 in Carson, California. The Championship games for each age group will be played on July 18.
