John Lynam converts two penalty kicks in Coronado win

John Lynam condedes he rarely practices penalty kicks.

You wouldn’t know it.

The Coronado forward buried two penalty kicks to lift the host Cougars to a 3-1 victory over Las Vegas High School on Tuesday afternoon.

Coronado, one of the favorites to win the Class 4A Sunrise Region, now is 6-1 with conference play on the horizon. The Wildcats fall to 5-3-2 after failing to generate any offense in the second half against the Cougars.

Las Vegas took a 1-0 lead courtesy of Miguel Eslava and his own penalty kick. But the Cougars, whose lone loss was to Western on Sept. 3, remained composed and committed to their game plan.

“Earlier this year against Western, we lost our cool on that first penalty kick,” Coronado coach Dustin Barton said. “We lost focus, and that’s how we lost the game. We have the same game plan every time, possess the ball, look for openings, penetrate and score.”

Lynam was fouled shortly after Eslava’s goal and fired the equalizer into the lower left corner past Wildcats goalie Chris Sosa.

“I just take it, pick a way and put it there,” said Lynam, who, along with teammate Preston Judd, leads the area in scoring with 11 goals. “I don’t really pay attention to where the goalie is. I just look at the ball and put it in the corner. Pick a corner and put it there.”

Sosa left the game a few minutes later after taking a kick to the neck, and Judd took advantage of a miscue from backup goalie Mason Essary early in the second half to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.

“They’ve got two guys that have a lot of speed,” Las Vegas coach Rafael Mitjans said of Lynam and Judd. “They make a little bit of a difference.”

Sosa finished the game for the Wildcats but it was too little, too late.

Lynam, Judd and the rest of Coronado’s offense possessed the ball for most of the second half and coaxed Las Vegas into too many defensive mistakes. The Cougars had several scoring chances and just as many near-misses.

Lynam scrapped his way to another penalty kick, which he buried late in the second half.

Mitjans said the Wildcats have a lot of things to fix before they move forward. The Cougars, on the other hand, are confident as they prep for their game against Del Sol on Thursday.

“(Del Sol is) supposed to be really good,” Barton said. “Same kind of thing. We’ve just got to keep our composure, our focus and we’ll be fine. League play is … when it counts.”