Iron Mountain senior Reece Kangas (30) battles two Bayside defenders for control of the ball during Tuesday’s varsity soccer clash at Mountaineer Stadium. The host Mountaineers battled their way to a 2-2 draw with Bayside, a co-ed club team from Escanaba. (Terry Raiche photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Coming off a win over the Bayside club team last week, the Iron Mountain boys varsity soccer team was hoping for a repeat performance on Tuesday at Mountaineer Stadium.

However, that wasn’t in the cards as the Mountaineers (2-5-2) drew with Bayside after letting it back into the contest in the second half.

“We had a good first half, played really well,” Mountaineers coach Greg Kulas said. “It was 2-1 at halftime and we were in pretty good shape. Our offense really played a lot better than we did against (Bayside) last week.”

Although he saw improvements, Kulas noted that mental mistakes hurt them in the second half.

“(We) figured some things out, and were passing the ball well, getting some good opportunities,” he said. “I thought our defense was strong, and then we were short handed. And then it got hard. We’re down one guy, and then we’re down two guys. It’s tough to play soccer nine against 11.”

During the second half, the Mountaineers lost Reece Kangas and Matt Richer to red cards.

In Richer’s situation, Kulas felt the play wasn’t intentional.

“The ref’s explanation was, ‘he came in with his cleats up, so he cleated her,'” Kulas said. “Sliding with your cleats up is an automatic red. It’s hard on the wet grass, everybody was slipping and sliding, so I don’t think there was anything intentional. (Richer) felt bad, he didn’t mean to do that, he was trying to score a goal.”

Even though they couldn’t pick up the win, Kulas was proud of the players who remained on the pitch.

“The guys that were out there, they gave it all they had, tried as hard as they could,” Kulas added.

After a scoreless 15 minutes, Iron Mountain kicked off the scoring as Kangas sent a pass across the middle of Bayside’s penalty box and onto the foot of senior Alex Wilson. Once the ball hit his foot, Wilson buried a shot in the back of the net, giving the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead.

A few moments later, Kangas once again set up a score as he laced a pass through the Bayside defense to a streaking Anthony Pineda.

Pineda quickly pushed his way through the rest of the Bayside defenders before sending the ball past the goalkeeper and into the bottom left corner as Iron Mountain took a 2-0 lead.

But just as it seemed the Mountaineers would roll to victory, Bayside began to fight back, netting a goal with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Missing key players in the second half, Iron Mountain needed people to step up and Cole and Cade Davy did just that.

“We were down one at the start of the second half, pretty much the start, and another one just a little bit later, so I had to make up for the difference of two players,” Cade Davy said.

The Mountaineers held strong for much of the second half, but Bayside knotted things up at 2 with 15 minutes left in the game.

“Once we went down another (player), they didn’t get another goal,” Cade Davy said.

While the Mountaineers had opportunities to seal the deal late, the game ended 2-2.

Kulas was impressed with the players who stepped up in Kangas and Richer’s absence.

“Benjamin Truong, he ran his heart out,” Kulas said. “Seth Greenleaf, Cole Davy were phenomenal.”

Iron Mountain returns to action today in Negaunee at 5:30 p.m.

Richer and Kangas won’t be allowed to play against the Miners due to the red cards.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for some other kids to step up and play,” Kulas said. “We got kids on the bench who have been working really hard in practice all year and I get them as much playing time as I can. Today, I meant to give them a lot more but it kind of fell apart in the second half.”

Before praising Wilson, Pineda hinted that the loss of two key players won’t matter much against Negaunee.

“It’s going to be a struggle, but we got Negaunee next, should be light, I’m gonna be honest,” Pineda said.