Gonzalez in right place to give Canyon Springs boys tie with Las Vegas

Gaspar Gonzalez was hesitant in admitting that luck was on his side Thursday at Las Vegas in a pivotal Northeast League match.

The Canyon Springs sophomore midfielder, who keyed a comeback that gave the Pioneers a 2-2 tie with the Wildcats, stressed he was simply in the right position when he knocked in the equalizing goal in the 75th minute.

“It was important,” Gonzalez said of his 12th goal of the season. “I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. I’m tired of not seeing our banner on the wall in the gym. I’m in P.E. and all I see is basketball, track and football. I want one for soccer.”

With the Pioneers down a goal, Canyon Springs’ Alan Meza lined up for a free kick from about 30 yards out. Meza’s shot slipped through Las Vegas goalkeeper Enrique Adame’s hands and hit him in the face, and Gonzalez booted the loose ball into the back of the net.

“It’s something we’ve been working on,” Pioneers coach Dan Myers said. “We have a problem sometimes of standing there and watching on set pieces or shots. We’ve really worked on crashing the box for any type of rebound and it paid off.”

Just six minutes prior to Gonzalez’s goal, Jonathan Martinez started the comeback for the Pioneers (7-2-3, 4-1-1 Northeast), outlasting a Wildcat defender on his way toward the box as he sliced the ball past Adame’s left side.

“We weren’t playing our best in the first half,” said Martinez, who notched his 27th goal of the season. “It took one of us to get things going, and it just pumped up the team. I didn’t really have an opening. I beat the defender with my body and than just shot it.”

Las Vegas (8-2-1, 4-1-1 Northeast) grabbed the lead in the first half’s final minute when Ricardo Guzman converted on a penalty kick. Abraham Paz tacked on what was then an insurance goal in the 64th minute, knocking home a rebound off Canyon Springs goalkeeper Alejandro Carrillo.

“I’ve told them day-in and day-out, championship caliber teams face adversity and rise to the occasion,” Myers said. “That’s what we did here today. It shows huge resiliency in that there’s no quit. We put our heads down for a few minutes, and then we found what we needed to do.”

Las Vegas and Canyon Springs are tied for first in the Northeast League with four league matches remaining. Should the teams finish tied, the Pioneers would own the tiebreaker by virtue of a 1-0-1 record against Las Vegas this season.

“We’ve got to get two wins minimum,” Myers said. “Six conference wins is what we have to have. I’ve been coaching in the district 19 years, and I’ve never hung a banner. It would mean quite a bit and it would validate the coaching style that I have and it would validate the work that the kids put in. To hang the first one up would solidify everything Canyon Springs stands for.”