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Raymundo’s magic lifts Demons
Washington senior breaks school record, hits game-winning shot at Fairfield
FAIRFIELD — The chaotic start to the 2024 soccer season continued on Thursday at Fairfield High School, as the hosting Trojans took on Washington in a Highway 1 rivalry game that lived up to the billing, and then some.
Washington erased a 2-0 second-half lead to stun the Trojans in overtime keeping the Demons’ Southeast Conference unbeaten streak alive with a 3-2 victory.
The golden goal was sunk by senior Emanuel Raymundo, who came into the game tied for Washington’s all-time lead with 33 career goals. Raymundo tied the game with 16 minutes and 8 seconds left in the game to break the school record and then scored the game-winner less than two minutes into overtime.
“I've had the pleasure of coaching him as a youth player,” said Washington head coach Sally Hart. “These seniors were my first team as fifth-graders. To see one of them not only tie the record earlier and then break it to tie the game was beautiful.”
At one point, Fairfield held a 2-0 lead with just 18 minutes remaining in the game. The Trojans went up 1-0 with a score in the first half, and Carter Stark gave the team a 2-0 advantage midway through the second half on a deflection goal that looked to be the dagger.
With 17:58 remaining, Washington’s Bill De La Rosa cut the lead in half with a goal, taking a cross pass in front of the net and putting it past Fairfield keeper Dalton Drish, who had pitched a shut out up to that point.
From that point forward, the Demons were an entirely different club.
"I don’t know how to explain it,“ said Raymundo after the game. ”All we needed was just a goal to motivate ourselves to keep pushing.“
And that it did. Raymundo himself launched a goal into the corner of the net off an assist by Angel Mata just two minutes after De La Rosa’s game-tying score, and in the blink of an eye, it was 2-2.
“It's like a spark ignites us as soon as we get a goal,” said Hart, who’s Demon squad stormed back from a 2-0 deficit against Mt. Pleasant earlier in the week. “It would be great if we could just get the first goal and keep that momentum going, but I'm going to take the win.”
Raymundo ended the game with 8:20 left in the first overtime period, completing a huge comeback for the Demons and a tough loss for Fairfield.
“We made three mistakes that bit us in the end,” said Fairfield head coach Felisto Guezimane. “The way we played gave us hope. It was a tough loss, but a very good lesson for us.”
Washington moved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in SEC play with the win. The Trojans fell to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the league.
