RIVERSIDE

With the weather starting to warm up as we reach the climax of the regular season, Highland hosted conference rival Hillcrest for a heated battle between two evenly matched teams.

Not being able to separate from each other in the allotted time allowed, a first half goal from the home team and a second half goal from the road team lead to the Huskies (6-4-2) and Ravens (6-2-2) concluding their matchup in a 1-1 draw  on May 6.

“I think we played a really good game today. Came out a little flat in the second half, and against a good team like [Hillcrest] they are going to catch you, and that’s what they did,” Highland coach Dylan Stewart said about facing Hillcrest. “We battled back and to get a draw out of that team that’s really beat us almost every year, it’s good to see that progress.”

“Highlands got a nice team, nothing to hang your heads about tying them.” Hillcrest coach Marcus Miller said about facing Highland. “I think tonight we learned the importance of coming mentally prepared right away. I thought we did a good job in possession, but we needed to create more shots than what we did.”

The Huskies, who have lost eight straight to the Ravens before this tie, were the first to appear on the scoreboard and they did it within the first two minutes of the game.

Highland’s Jared Diaz, being granted a free kick near the goal after a Hillcrest foul, sent a missile of a ball rocketing into the goal to give the Huskies an early lead. An outstanding senior talent, this was Diaz’s team leading 14th goal of the season.

“That’s all him. He’s got that in his tool bag, and I’m happy to see him get one there,” coach Stewart said of Diaz scoring on a free kick. “Jared played phenomenal today. Had a lot of good chances. I think the goal itself just speaks for the quality of player Jared is.”

After taking the lead, Highland’s defense kept the Hillcrest offense at bay for the remainder of the first half to head into halftime with a 1-0 advantage.

“I think that’s when we really play our best. I think anybody can play good with the lead,” coach Stewart said about the advantages of scoring an early goal. “Your nerves are a little more settled. It makes it allows you to slow the game down, and I think that helped us for that first half,”

After being shut out in the first forty minutes of the game, the Ravens did not wait long to find an equalizer in the second half.   

Four minutes into the second half, Mason Helmuth’s shot on goal was deflected off Highland’s goalkeeper and off the ricochet fellow senior teammate Micah Gerber used this opportunity to send the ball into the back of the net to knot up the score at 1-1. This was Gerber’s seventh goal of the year.

“We had talked at halftime about crashing the goal, crashing, even if you weren’t the one taking that shot and Micah did that,” coach Miller said of Gerber’s goal. “He crashed and got the goal.”

For the remainder of the second half, while both teams saw great chances to give their respective teams the lead, defense held strong on both sides of the field to cement the deadlocked score.

“Defensively, we played well. Our back line played well. Kyle Neuschwander did a really good job in goal tonight,” coach Miller said. “Kyle did a good job cutting off balls before they became shots, and then making saves when he needed to.”

Highland senior goalkeeper Ayden Havel recorded 11 saves and Hillcrest senior goalkeeper Kyle Neuschwander tallied six saves.

“Today, they played hard and they just do what we expect them to do. It was all really good stuff for my defense,” coach Stewart said. “It’s anchored by Angel [Avendano]. Angel’s been a four year starter. He’s really been very consistent in this program.”

Danville 2, Highland 1

Playing spoiler on senior night, the visiting Danville Bears (4-6-1) earned a close-fought conference victory over Highland (6-5-2) last Thursday. 

About eight minutes into the first half, the Bears took the lead off a strike from senior Colin Pealer who was able to get behind the goalie with possession of the ball.

Seven minutes later Pealer, after being fouled near the goal, doubled Danville’s lead with a successful penalty kick.

Highland cut into its deficit, nine minutes before halftime, when Jared Diaz scored his 15th goal of the season, the most on the team.

The second half saw no goals scored as defense clamped down on both sides, leading to Danville’s 15th straight win over the Huskies with Highland’s last victory over the Bears coming in 2012.

After the game Highland honored seniors Landon Bell, Hailie Hoppman, Jares Diaz, Logan McFarland, Sage Hartley-Norman, Issac Thomann, Angel Avendano, Louis Horak, Brody Miller, Ayden Havel, and Jaydee Macareno.

“They’ve battled, and that’s all I’ve asked for for the last four years, is these kids to battle,” Highland coach Dylan Stewart said of his senior players. “It’s been great to kind of try to build a culture around this class specifically. It’s gonna be hard to replicate this group again.”