Packers ride out a tie with Century after chaotic start

Sep. 25—The Austin boys soccer team was able to steady the ship after some rough waters early in the game and they finished with enough energy to tie Rochester Century by a score of 2-2 in Art Hass Stadium Thursday.

All four of the game's goals were scored in the first 13 minutes as sophomore Yo Yo scored on an assist from Law Htoo to tie the game at 1-1 and junior Taw Reh scored to tie the game up at 2-2 with 26:34 left in the first half.

"We didn't give up," Reh said.

Reh's goal came on a 35-yard free kick, where he came out and fired it past the keeper before Century (7-1-3 overall) had a chance to set it's wall. Reh could've asked for 10-yards of space, but instead he took his chance.

"I try that sometimes, and sometimes they go in," Reh said. "The keeper was distracted, so I took it."

Once the Packers (4-5-3 overall) were able to settle down from the crazy start, they were able to play with structure and keep the game at the pace they wanted.

"Sometimes it takes multiple games before you see four goals scored," Austin head coach Jens Levisen said. "We had to just recognize what we needed to do to slow it down. It was good that we evened it up, but we had to recognize what allowed those goals. I thought we played well in the second half and we created some opportunities."

Austin senior keeper Kyler Flanders finished with eight saves — including a pair of leaping saves in the second half, and senior defenseman Myles Taylor helped protect Flanders in the back.

"It was certainly a group effort and everybody helped out. We just had to keep on working as a team," Taylor said. "I'm just happy that when we were down, we kept our heads up."

Levisen was pleased with how his team responded in less than a minute to both of Century's first half goals.

"As much as we talk about tactics, we talk about how we're going to get scored on and you've got to know what you're going to do when you get scored on," Levisen said. "Are you going to hang your head, mope or pout, or are you going to realize that we've got to keep going and there's plenty of time."