As the minutes ticked down — the exact amount of time unknown to most in attendance because of a malfunctioning scoreboard clock — Reagan High School sophomore forward Emi Durante said she felt an uneasiness.

The Rattlers, unblemished and rarely pushed to the limits in the first month of the season, faced an unfamiliar predicament. They were on the cusp of defeat.

Like clockwork, though, they rose to the challenge.

Reagan scored twice in the final 15 minutes, including the game-winner with 2 1/2 minutes left, and defeated LEE 2-1 Friday in a District 28-6A girls soccer showdown at Comalander Stadium.

The Rattlers are tied with Johnson (7-1, 3-0) for second place in the early stages of league play, three points behind Madison (8-0-2, 4-0), which has played one more district match.

“It’s pretty scary,” Durante said of having a late deficit. “We’re not used to being scored on first. We have to try our hardest and put in all the effort we have.”

Thus far, the work has paid dividends. At 9-0 in Coach Christina Nunez’s first season at the helm, the Rattlers are off to their best start since 2009. The team from 15 years ago opened with 18 consecutive wins, was ranked No. 1 in the nation and advanced to the UIL state tournament before falling to eventual champion Coppell 1-0 in overtime in the state semifinals.

The perfect start was in jeopardy of ending on Friday. LEE (7-3-1, 3-1) led 1-0 when Emersyn Landrum ran onto a deflection in the 14th minute and put a line-drive shot in from about 15 yards out.

Landrum’s score stood for more than 50 minutes as Reagan created opportunities but couldn’t crack LEE’s defense. The Rattlers, who had a potential goal right before halftime denied when LEE defender and Texas Tech signee Kendall Jones cleared a ball off the goal line, finally got their break when Ella Madrid collected a pass from Alyssa Izaguirre and curled in a shot for the tying goal.

With a 1-1 draw appearing likely, Durante took a pass from Izaguirre and lofted a shot from l0 yards out on the left wing that hit off the right post and redirected into the goal for the game-winner.

“At that point, it was just like, ‘OK, we have to at least try to get this chance,'” Durante said after the Rattlers won their second match in 24 hours (they beat Marshall 3-0 on Thursday in a contest that was delayed a day because on inclement weather). “It was like, ‘Why not go to goal and try?’ I shot it and it went in. When we started getting in our groove, we were doing good, we started getting those goals.”

While the Reagan girls needed some second-half dramatics to prevail, their male counterparts did their damage in the first half.

The Rattlers (5-3-1, 3-0) dropped defending league champion LEE 3-0 in the nightcap of a doubleheader. They are in sole possession of first place in 28-6A, two points ahead of Johnson (5-4-1, 2-0-1), Churchill (7-1-1, 2-0-1) and Brandeis (3-3-2, 2-1-1).

“We’ve just got to stay strong and keep playing hard and physical,” Reagan junior Connor Sullivan said.

Hampered by an inability to remain onside during the early portion of the first half, resulting in being called eight times for being offsides in the opening 40 minutes, the Rattlers turned to set pieces to overcome their struggles.

Reagan scored two of its three goals off corner kicks during an eight-minute span that overlapped the end of the first half and the start of the second stanza.

Connor Sullivan and Pato Benavides had the honors, sandwiching their scores around a tally from Cameron Sullivan. The Sullivan brothers found the back of the net only minutes apart late in the opening half.

Bernardo Gordoa had assists on all three goals.

“We’re usually not good at set pieces, but we’ve been working on it and hard work pays off,” Connor Sullivan said. It was a lot of anxiousness (early in the game), just trying to go in and get the through ball and try and attack.”

The quick scoring strikes gave Reagan the cushion it needed. It was able to absorb some close calls from LEE (7-4, 2-2) as goalkeeper Patrick Bassett helped lead the way to a shutout.

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1