CENTERTON -- Lincoln's five-match win streak in boys soccer didn't end at Lifeway Christian in Centerton on Tuesday, April 13.
Despite playing to a 3-3 tie, the Wolves' streak remained alive following a 6-1 victory at Bergman on Thursday, April 8 before coming to an end with a 6-0 road loss at Green Forest on Thursday.
Lincoln fell behind 2-0 at halftime before dominating much of the second half. A goal by the Warriors that bounced off Lincoln goalkeeper Jakkson Grisham, who nearly wrapped his hands around it, in the last three minutes, knotted the score allowing Lifeway to forge a 3-3 tie after they blew a 2-0 halftime lead.
"Our team kind of warms up slow and then they kind of get going, but once they get a couple of goals against them it really lights a fire under them and they really come back twice as strong," said Lincoln coach Angela Guillory. "We scored three goals in the second half to their one so we had a phenomenal second half compared to the first."
Lincoln got on the scoreboard when freshman Conzalo Perez drilled a penalty shot.
"Conzie's an amazing penalty spot shooter so I just knew when they gave us that free kick that's who I wanted to take it and I had no doubt in my mind that Conzie was going to put it in the back of the net and he did not disappoint. He scored a beautiful goal," Guillory said.
Grisham steadily defended an onslaught of Warrior shots over the last 21 minutes of action after Timtxhua Vang's goal for Lincoln tied the score at 2-2.
A minute later Grisham recorded a save, then made another stop by courageously pouncing on the ball in traffic as Lifeway player filled the box. Lifeway missed an opportunity when they were called for offsides but got off a couple of shots from close-range. Grisham smothered one on the left side of the goal and drew the praise of assistant coach Jordan Watson for his role in depriving Lifeway of a golden opportunity arranged by a well-placed kick that centered the ball behind Lincoln's defenders.
The Warriors bore down on the freshman goalkeeper, who defiantly held his ground and the shot went high over the goal.
"Way to force an awkward shot, Jakkson," Watson said.
Grisham got baptized under fire as a freshman thrown into the goalkeeper position during the 2020 season that got short-circuited by covid-19.
"Jakkson's got a lot of heart, a lot of passion for that position, and he has just come a long way as a freshman from last year playing. He's never played against seniors before, then last year he kind of got thrown in and this year he's really stepped up and become a formidable goalie and he won Player of the Game tonight," Guillory said. "He had so many good saves. He did all the right things, I'm really proud of him and his performance."
Grisham finished with an impressive statistical line. His official saves numbered nine, but the Warriors recorded 19 shots on goal compared to 11 for Lincoln. The Warriors had more than twice as many corner kicks (11-to-5), but could not win the match.
"He had nine saves that were actually shots, but they had 19 shots in the game so he's up to 28 saves for the game, that's a huge number to keep the score down to 3-3," Guillory said. "So to have 28 saves and only let three in, that's phenomenal."
Timtxhua Vang got off a shot at the other end that likely would have scored if not for a deflection by the Warriors' goalkeeper.
Lifeway reversed the field, but a developing Warrior attack was whistled dead for an infraction that resulted in one of Lifeway's players being issued a yellow card. Shortly after that Connor Schork scored his first goal of the season off a good setup by his teammates with about seven minutes left to push the Wolves ahead, 3-2.
"We've been talking recently about playing it across the field instead of trying to play so direct," Guillory said. "We want to widen the field out and pull their defense, spread them out a little bit more and not be so clumped up together and they did it, they pulled the defense out and they crossed it from the left field to the right."
Guillory shared in the senior forward's joy celebrating the goal, a feat which thus far had eluded him despite a consistent effort on his part to position himself strategically on offense.
"Conner's worked really hard, that's his first goal of the season, but he is there to finish, to follow and to shoot every time. He was right where he needed to be and he finished that shot, put it in the back of the net."
Vang's goal was also the result of executing what the coaches emphasized in practice.
"It was off another cross again, that's something we've been working on. We set it up. We passed it down the line and then across the field, then T had a shot that missed it and he did not stop, he just kept going, followed that shot up, got a second opportunity, and finished it in the back of the net," Guillory said.
Lincoln started the season 0-5-2 before forging a five-match win streak. Guillory purposely designed the nonconference schedule to test the Wolves.
"We stacked our schedule pretty tough in the beginning. We went up against Fayetteville, Farmington, Prairie Grove, none of which are in our class and I just wanted the boys to know they had to work hard this season and see what they were capable of and so we went to a pretty difficult preseason," Guillory said. "But I think it's served us well with giving them the opportunity to have that five game winning streak, just challenging them from the beginning to be better so they knew what they had to do and they just came out here and proved it and showed what kind of team they are."