Perez's Goals Give DGN Crosstown Bragging Rights

 was determined to make sure  star Cullen Cummings didn’t beat them Thursday night.

He didn’t. But Byron Perez did.

Perez scored twice in the second half on terrific shots, the last coming with 6 minutes, 20 seconds remaining, to lift the Trojans to a 2-1 victory over the host Mustangs in a windswept contest for crosstown soccer bragging rights.

It was the first two-goal game of Perez’s career and allowed (4-12-1) to snap a five-game losing streak and gain some much-needed confidence.

“It was important for us,” Perez said. “Not only was it our crosstown rivalry, but we’ve got to prove ourselves. We’re much better than what our record says.”

The Trojans trailed 1-0 after a first half in which they mustered only one shot against a wind that stiffened to over 30 mph as the evening progressed. But Perez stunned the Mustangs (5-8-2) at the 32:29 mark of the second half by scoring on a counterattack. The junior forward’s 32-yard bullet on the run snuck inside the upper left corner of the net to tie the game.

“They didn’t pressure me so I just took advantage of it,” Perez said. “I finessed it and the wind did what it did.”

The wind was not a factor on Perez’s second goal, his fifth of the season. He got the ball on the right side of ’s penalty area and, seeing his lane to the goal cut off by a defender, took a touch to the outside and blasted a 10-yard shot into the upper right corner of the net from a tough angle. Perez put so much mustard on the shot that the ball somehow went between Mustangs goalie Nick Tannenbaum (three saves) and the right post and hit the top netting.

“I had to. We were tied 1-1, not a lot of time left,” Perez said. “I think Reid Melton crossed it into me. I saw that I wasn’t going to make it so I kind of backed off a little bit and then when I saw that opportunity I just hit it.”

coach Brian Gervase was impressed with both of Perez’s strikes.

“He hit both corners today,” Gervase said. “He hit both corners today. It looked like was packed in a little at the end and Bryon took a run and he had some space and that’s what we encourage him to do, take a (long) shot.”

had taken a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when sophomore Jack Freko scored his second career goal at the 21:54 mark. Freko settled the ball just outside the top of the circle and lofted a 23-yard shot over the head of goalie Aaron Menyes and just under the crossbar.

Menyes did not allow another shot to get past him. The sophomore finished with three saves, including a great diving effort to knock an open shot in the box from Sam LaLonde wide right with 26:10 to go in the second half. Menyes also snagged LaLonde’s 48-yard free kick with 2:20 remaining and aggressively charged off his line to force shooters to miss high on two partial breakaways.

“It feels really good coming back,” Menyes said. “I haven’t played much time lately. Going down 1-0 was tough. You’ve got to keep your head straight. You can’t put your head down and say this is over, so when they put that one in I was mad at myself but I was like, 'We’ve still got this, they’re not that tough.’ We ended up coming back and winning it.”

coach Jon Stapleton thought his side created more chances – the Mustangs outshot the Trojans 10-7 – but that both teams played well.

“It was really a very good game,” Stapleton said. “I thought we had chances early in the second half. Jack had a chance for a second goal, Sam had a good opportunity and got in behind. You bury one of those, now you’re (up) 2-0 and it might have been a little bit different.

“I think that was the difference. The few opportunities we gave them in the second half they finished and the few chances we had we didn’t. But as I told the kids I think we’re playing better. We’re improving and our more consistent and that’s a step in the right direction, especially with a young group.”