Iowa City High dodges an upset with an overtime goal over Iowa City West

IOWA CITY - City High forward Gaby Baloci spent most of the game racing past Iowa City West defenders on the left wing where he crossed balls to the box, but in the 86th minute of an overtime game he took the shot himself and won the game, 2-1.

The goal set off a wild celebration as City High fans stormed the field.

'Gaby's not normally one of our best scorers, so it was pretty awesome to see him finally put one in, especially the game winner in overtime,” City's Adam Nicholson said. 'He's was beating them every time, but sometimes you can't finish. But he did today.”

'(Coach Jose Fajardo) kept telling me if I keep dribbling I'll have a chance,” Baloci said. 'He believes in me.”

'He's a very talented player,” Fajardo said. 'If he could finish half the chances he creates he would be a very exceptional player. The problem is that we are too slow to catch up to him. So when he gets there no one is there to finish; it's like an empty box.”

West Coach Brad Stiles joked: 'I think he just crossed it into the goal this time. If he can eyeball and shoot from there I think he would have tried it a little bit earlier.

'But they got too many services into Gaby. Gaby got into a good flow, and he was able to be dangerous.”

Antonio Sanchez scored in the box for No. 12 West (6-6, 9-7) in the eighth minute. Victor Brown-Rodriguez evened the score in the 61st minute after settling the ball and cranking a 40-yard shot over the keeper into the net.

The fourth-ranked Little Hawks (9-3, 13-3) dodged big-time trouble in the 68th minute after West's Alex Andersen was fouled in the box. Sanchez took the penalty kick, but City keeper Daniel Goldenstein saved the game with his diving stop.

'I knew I had only one shot and I decided I'd move to the left horizontally so he might switch direction and then go to my right,” Goldenstein said. 'I was afraid about the rebound, but I was able to scoop it up and was able to give my team a chance to do what I know they can do.”