Dust Devils' comeback falls short

The Dust Devils threw everything at the Sage Ridge net in the waining moments of Wednesday afternoon's game, but couldn't break the plane as the Scorpions picked up a 4-3 on Dayton's home turf.

Up 2-1 early in the second half, a Sage Ridge attacker sprinted around a Dayton defender and ruffled the netting to give the Scorpions a two-goal lead.

It took until the 73rd minute for the Dust Devils to respond, but Juan Aguinaga found the ball at his foot and volleyed it into the back netting to cut the gap to 3-2.

Sage Ridge needed all of two minutes to respond, quickly jutting its lead to 4-2 in the 75th minute.

Dayton's Caleb Sumsion got a quick break moments later and scored his fifth goal of the season – once again bringing the Dust Devils within one.

The attacks followed in the game's final moments as the Dust Devils put two shots wide and had earned a corner kick right as the final whistle blew.

"We reacted too late. We saw an opponent that was a little bit weaker than us and we played down to their level," said Dayton head coach Luis Melgarejo. "I wanted to play our whole 28 players and that's difficult to do in 80 minutes when you're not playing to your full potential."

Back and forth first half

Sage Ridge quickly took advantage of its speed in the attacking third in the game’s early going.

On several occasions the Scorpions pushed the ball through or around Dayton defenders, allowing their forwards to run to the ball in open space.

The Scorpions speed put them in front 1-0 in the 14^th minute on a ball passed down the Dust Devil sideline and then crossed into the middle for an attacker, who found the back net.

"I tried to put my faster guys on the wings, but at that point when we reacted they were already winded," said Melgarejo.

It didn’t take long for Dayton to respond as Noah Gibson used his speed to get around one final Sage Ridge defender, take the ball before the Scorpion keeper could reach it and gently let it roll into the back of the net.

Dayton had several of the next scoring chances for the Dust Devils, but shots from Aguinaga and team captain Isaac Guadarrama sailed over the crossbar.

Sage Ridge broke the 1-1 tie in the closing minutes of the first half, using a quick transition and an advantage in numbers to set up a goal.

The Dayton girls soccer game – scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday – was called off due to Sage Ridge not having enough players, according to Dayton athletic director David Palmer.

UP NEXT: Dayton (2-5, 2-2) will host White Pine (6-7, 3-2) in a rematch from 14 days prior in which the Dust Devils came out on top 2-1.

Sage Ridge rosters were unavailable