Christian Herman scored two goals, but the Cate boys soccer team fell in overtime of their Tri-Valley League opener against Nordhoff, 4-3.
Herman scored on a pass from Juan Magalhaes in the 6th minute, but Nordhoff rattled off three straight goals to put the Rams (2-3-1, 0-1) in a 3-1 hole early in the second half.
In the 48th minute, freshman Harry Corman served a beautiful corner kick that Herman placed into the back of the net, and then Magalhaes scored on a penalty kick in the 74th minute to tie up the match at 3-3.
Three minutes into overtime, a Cate defender inadvertently deflected a Nordhoff cross into the net, sealing the victory for the Rangers.
“I give our guys a ton of credit for battling back from two goals down in the second half to force overtime,” said Cate coach Pete Mack, “but it took a lot of energy to do that and we just didn’t seem to have quite enough to complete the job.”
Cate takes on Carpinteria away next Wednesday in their second Tri-Valley League match.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.