Essex, MD – A gutsy effort by the Dragons fell short as the Knights proved too much in the end with a 5-2 victory.

Essex got on the board just three minutes into the contest as Isaiah Price took advantage of a defensive miscue by the Dragons and shocked the Howard faithful early on.

Later in the first half, Daniel Fuentes (Clarksville, MD/River Hill) hit a free kick from 20 yards away that deflected off the wall but went straight back and allowed him to collect the rebound and curl in a cross that Alexander Estrada-Avila (Ellicott City, MD/Oakland Mills) hammered home from close range to tie the game.

A bizarre series of events  late in the first half saw the Knights Wilfred Tinay get past goalkeeper Simon Bradford (Columbia, MD/Hammond) and seemingly tap the ball into the open net, but Noel Diaz (Silver Spring, MD/Paint Branch) appeared from nowhere to clear the ball on the goal line and prevent the ball from crossing the goal line.

The Dragons piled on opportunities with eight shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes with Knights goalkeeper Kyle Cooper making seven fantastic saves to keep the Dragons at bay.

Essex took the lead back in the 34^th minute with the speedy Nehemiah Wright scoring the first of his three goals

Early in the second half, Fuentes ran through the middle of the box to collect a through ball and hit the fast break attempt just wide of the net.

Fuentes got another chance a minute later as he ran onto a through ball, cut the ball back onto his right foot and buried the ball with a low shot to tie the game at 2-2 early in the second half.

After that the chances towards goal for the Dragons diminished and the Knights made the most of theirs as they scored the last three goals of the game to run away late.

With the loss, the Dragons conclude their regular season schedule with a 9-8 record and finish sixth in the conference at 5-6 as they now prepare to host the Region 20 Division III tournament starting on Thursday, October 25.