SEGUIN, Texas — The London Pirates achieved what no Coastal Bend boys soccer team had done before, advance and play in a UIL State Semifinal. London gave it their all against Brookshire Royal, but it ended in a shootout in favor of the Falcons.
Regulation ended 3-3, and here's how the game got there. Royal scored first in less than six minutes when Juan Carlos Jimenez tapped it in. London tied it at 1-1 20 minutes later. Yago De Santos from Spain beat the defense, forced the keeper to attack and he struck to net. Royal took the lead once again in the second half. Jersen Perez scored backdoor. The Falcons would go up 3-1 on a penalty kick.
London was down 3-1, but with 5 minutes to go a miracle occurred with the wind at their back. Sophomore Colton Wiseman on a deep free kick fired to the box, Singha Weeranitikun scores on the beautiful header to close the gap 3-2. Then with 46 seconds left Wiseman gets another far away free kick from the left sideline. With all his power, Wiseman bends it around the keeper and ties the game at 3-3.
This game would go to overtime 11 vs. 9 since two of Royal's player got red carded. That's two 10 minutes halves, but nobody would score. Then the game went to a best-of-5 shootout. Royal made 4 goals while London made 3. A fantastic season that was a battle till the very end.
London ends their season (22-3-1) graduating three seniors, but keep the Pirates on the radar next year. They've got a lot of starters returning, all while staying UIL 4A for soccer.
