Petaluma boys earn 2-2 draw with Calistoga

<p>Bouncing back from a pair of frustrating losses, the Petaluma High School varsity boys soccer team capped its season-opening week of play with a hard-earned 2-2 tie on Saturday at Calistoga's Logvy Community Park. </p><p>Playing their third game in five days and their second game without starting goalkeeper Patrick Rabbitt (family leave), the Trojans, 0-2-1, rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to take their first lead of the season. Jorge Gamez sparked Petaluma with an unassisted goal two minutes into the second half on a blistering 35-yard shot that deflected off both goal posts before trickling into the back of the net. Two minutes later, Drake Albee put the Trojans ahead, finishing a pass combination from Holden Yungert and Jacob Wichman.</p><p>Seizing the momentum, Petaluma nearly extended its lead to 3-1 when Jovani Cruz set up Daniel Bechman in front of the Wildcats' goal, but Bechman's shot went wide. The Trojans eventually settled for a tie as Calistoga scored on a penalty kick with 15 minutes to play. Strong defensive play in the midfield by Ryan Kunzman, Riley Gang and Eli Asay kept Calistoga at bay and protected Trojans' backup keeper Ricky Singleton.</p><p>Singleton subbed for Rabbitt two days earlier, and was shaken up nine minutes into his varsity debut against Tam High, a 4-1 defeat. He was replaced by Yungert, who volunteered to be the Trojans' emergency third-string goalkeeper. Tam took advantage of Petaluma's misfortunes and grabbed a 1-0 lead four minutes later.</p><p>Petaluma nearly tied the game eight minutes later, but a direct kick by Gamez from 25 yards out hit the crossbar. After Tam tallied three goals in a 13-minute span in the second half, the Trojans' Garren Langford scored on assists by Yungert and Gang.</p><p>In the season-opening game, a 2-0 home loss to Rancho Cotate, Rabbitt made a couple of splendid saves to keep the Trojans close, but Petaluma couldn't muster enough offense. </p><p>Its best scoring chance came 10 minutes into the second 40-minute half when Rancho's goalkeeper made a diving stop of a shot by Wichman then smothered a rebound shot by Christian Alfaro-Chaves.</p>