DIXON – Despite creating scoring chances and putting pressure on the defense, Dixon was unable to capitalize Tuesday evening. Genoa-Kingston cashed in when it had the chance.

The Cogs scored a pair of goals on breakaways and won 2-1 at A.C. Bowers Field in the Big Northern Conference opener for both teams.

The Cogs (3-4, 1-0 BNC) opened the scoring with 5:55 left before halftime. Ayden Hernandez ripped a shot from the left side, with Dixon goalkeeper Gage Helfrich charging out to meet him. The ball rolled toward the goal, and G-K’s Ulises Ayala-Zavala tapped it in after a Dixon defender slid in to try and knock it away from the goal line.

“I was just there at the right time, to be honest. Ayden, he really got the right positioning, and it was just unlucky that the defender got it off the line. I was just there to secure it,” Ayala-Zavala said. “It was really important for the morale of the team. We came in off a loss, so scoring the first goal against a good team like this, in an away game, it was key to get us going.”

Most of the half was played in the Cogs’ end of the field, but the Dukes (0-3, 0-1) just couldn’t find the net. Undaunted, Dixon came out strong in the second half, and Jack Redell scored the equalizer just 1:40 into the second half off of an indirect free kick by Jayvian Herwig.

“We were down one [goal] at half, so we knew we had to come out hot. We got an indirect free kick right at the top of the box, and I just made a run [to the] back post, Jayvian found me and I tapped it in. It was all his ball, he placed it perfect,” Redell said. “That was huge to finally find the net. We’ve had a little bit of a struggle scoring, and so that was huge. It gave us some momentum; unfortunately, we made a mistake after that, but we’ve got to score better.”

Herwig lofted the kick from the right side after Quinn Flanagan touched the indirect kick first, and Redell crashed in on the far post and pushed it past G-K keeper Adrian Leon.

“Honestly, the whole first half we created chances. They got one goal off a silly mistake by our defense, but that stuff happens,” Herwig said. “We knew we had to come out hot; we didn’t in the first half, they scored, boo hoo, we’ve got to deal with it. We got the indirect kick, I knew I wanted to go [to the] back post, whether it was on net or off net; as long as it was back post, I knew we had a chance. Jack just made a beautiful run – we’ve talked about him making those runs – and found the back of the net.”

Dixon kept the pressure on, but the Cogs didn’t crack. They turned one of Adrian Leon’s eight saves into a counterattack, as Josue Leon ripped a long pass up the left side that Christopher Modesto chased down and booted in the net to retake the lead with 27:24 to play.

“Josue definitely gave me a great ball, and I just tried to get there as fast as I can and take a touch. I got to the ball and it was a good goal,” Modesto said. “We definitely needed that goal. It was crucial to get the momentum back in the game, and I think just helped our team a lot.”

Dixon kept attacking, but G-K was able to counter on defense and limit the Dukes’ scoring chances down the stretch.

Despite being out-shot 18-10, including 9-6 on frame, the Cogs’ ability to clear the ball on the back end and possess it in the midfield kept the Dukes at bay.

“The quick passes definitely got us up the field, and it took a while for the other team to get to the ball when we did that,” Modesto said. “Overall, it was a good game.”

Helfrich finished with four saves, but Dixon was unable to take advantage of their opportunities in the forward half.

“I’m hoping we can start scoring if we keep up the pressure,” Herwig said. “We actually switched formations for this game. We have some injuries in our central mid, so we decided to put that extra person up [on the front line] hoping for more chances attacking, because the previous two games, we haven’t had that – and obviously it worked, we just couldn’t put it in the back of the net. Phenomenal job by their keeper, he made some good saves.”