HAT TRICK FROM MENDEZ FUELS NORTHSIDE GRIZZLIES’ HOME WIN

Before Friday, Northside senior forward Luis Mendez had only one career varsity goal. Now, Mendez has four goals thanks to his first career hat trick. Mendez tallied his first two goals Friday in a span of 42 seconds in the opening half; then had his third goal of the evening in the second half as the Grizzlies rolled past North Little Rock, 8-1, in 7A-Central action at Mayo-Thompson Stadium. “This year, I had to step my game up because I’m a senior, so I stepped it up and then (Friday) was my first career hat trick,” Mendez said. “We’ve been trying to keep the ball and keep possession, that’s what coach wants us to do, is to dominate the game. That’s what we’re trying to do all year because right now, we have to look at the big picture for the playoffs because the (7A State Tournament) is in two weeks and we have to step up our game now.” Ironically, the other goal Mendez had before Friday came in the Grizzlies’ previous game against North Little Rock. The two first-half goals from Mendez also capped a three-goal run in a span of 1:43. Northside (11-5-1, 9-3) took a 1-0 lead when Alejandro Iturriaga delivered a header off a corner kick with 14 minutes already elapsed into the game. Just barely more than a minute later, Mendez took a pass and made a move past a Charging Wildcat defender right in front of the goal. Mendez then went top shelf for the Grizzlies’ two-goal advantage. But Mendez was just getting started. Exactly 42 seconds later, Mendez found the corner as Northside made it 3-0. “Hopefully, that gives him a little bit more encouragement to make the ones that he made (Friday) because if he does that, more goals are going to come his way,” Northside coach Mauricio Maciel said. “It took us a while to get going, but once those goals started coming, things started opening for us. So yes, that was a nice little flurry.” Christian Chavez capped the scoring in the first half with a goal to extend the Grizzlies’ lead to 4-0 with less than 15 minutes to go before intermission. Mendez delivered the hat trick 15 minutes into the second half. He received a cross pass from teammate Ricky Iturriaga as the NLR goalkeeper was late to cover, and Mendez easily kicked the ball in to make it 5-0. “We find the flanks, that’s what we have to do,” Mendez said. “They know if they find me, I could run through and that’s what we did and that’s how I got the three goals. We’ve been trying to do that, but (Friday) it showed that if we use the flanks we can do it and we can score more like this with the team.” After NLR (3-12, 1-11) finally got on the scoreboard with nearly 22 minutes left, Northside regained its five-goal advantage on a shot from Jason Mendoza. The Grizzlies added goals from Ricky Iturriaga and Andy Duangdara. The win allowed Northside to keep pace with Conway for the 7A-Central lead. After Conway’s win at Little Rock Central on Friday, the Wampus Cats hold a half-game lead on the Grizzlies as Conway has three conference games left while Northside has two (Tuesday at Cabot and at home on May 4 against Southside). “We know that’s the plan; we’ve got to take care of what we can control and hopefully, Conway can lose one more,” Maciel said. “They did lose to (Little Rock) Catholic already for their second loss, so we’re just hoping they can lose another one of their remaining games.” Northside 4, NLR 1 GIRLS — The Lady Bears kept their postseason hopes alive with a win at home Friday night. With the win by Northside (5-12-1, 4-8) along with Little Rock Central’s loss to Conway, the Lady Bears and Central are now tied for the sixth and final playoff spot in the 7A-Central with two games left. The two teams split the series, with Northside winning at home on penalty kicks while Central prevailed on its turf, 2-1. In Friday’s win, the Lady Bears scored the game’s first three goals. Their first goal came 17 minutes in, which was set up by a corner kick, as senior forward Makaela Henry found the net. Nearly five minutes later, junior Katelyn Gilkey got a breakaway and was able to stick the ball past the NLR goalkeeper for a 2-0 lead. It became 3-0 early in the second half as Maddie Davidson was all alone in front of the net to knock in a deflected shot. NLR (4-12-1, 0-12) scored minutes later, but the Lady Bears remained in control. Gilkey had her second goal of the night with 5:39 left as she placed a shot which went over the goalkeeper and through.

HAT TRICK FROM MENDEZ FUELS NORTHSIDE GRIZZLIES’ HOME WIN

BUCK RINGGOLD

Times Record | 4/28/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Mitchell