Goalkeeper A.J. Hernandez excelled in a dual role to help produce a remarkable 24-hour turnaround for Elma’s soccer team.

Hernandez scored the go-ahead goal on the sixth round of penalty kicks, then denied Montesano’s tying attempt to give the Eagles an improbable 2-2 (4-3) victory in an Evergreen 1A League boys soccer contest on April 25 at rainy Rottle Field.

Rebounding from an 8-1 shellacking at the hands of Hoquiam only one day earlier, the Eagles (4-2, 6-7-1) remained in the thick of the league title chase and knocked rival Montesano (3-2, 4-7-2) out of share of the Evergreen 1A lead with Hoquiam.

“We’re kind of Jekyll and Hyde,” Eagle coach Carson Seaberg acknowledged. “When we stay in good position (defensively), we’re really tough.”

The Eagles were in full survival mode for this contest. Outshot 24-7 through regulation and two overtime periods, they needed to convert two must-make shots and stop two game-winning Bulldog attempts in the shootout.

Luis Muro, Nicolai Vikkelsoe and Michael Malpass made Montesano’s first three penalty kicks. Bulldog goalkeeper Waymn Thoemmes, meanwhile, made diving saves of Elma’s first two attempts (by Bastian Marseiffe and Jose Melendez) before Adonis Torres converted to open the third round.

Trace Thompson made the fourth PK and Hernandez dove to his left to deny Riccardo Marangon to keep the Eagles alive.

Elma, however, still trailed 3-2 before Carlos Bautista opened the fifth round with a shot into the lower left corner. Then Monte’s Ben Lopez shot high to set up the sudden-death portion of the shootout.

Hernandez might have seemed an unlikely choice to take the next PK. But the sophomore goalkeeper also found the lower left corner.

“A.J. has great feet. He has the skills to play on the field,” Seaberg explained. “I had confidence he could get his foot on the ball.”

Then Hernandez dove to his right to block Eric Blanchard’s attempt to prolong the match.

For the second straight day, the Eagles surrendered a goal on the opposition’s opening shot.

The match was only four minutes old when Monte’s Connor Parkinson buried about a 10-yard try into the roof of the net. Vikkelsoe contributed the assist.

The Eagles capitalized on a Monte lapse to tie it in the 37th minute. Set up for a goal kick, Thoemmes instead one-touched it about 10 yards ahead to Elma junior forward Colin Decker-Hicks. With only Thoemmes to beat, Decker-Hicks knocked about a 20-yard shot into the upper left corner.

Decker-Hicks converted a pass from Thompson about five minutes into the second half to give the Eagles a 2-1 advantage.

Dominating possession for the remainder of regulation, the Bulldogs equalized some seven minutes later when Vikkelsoe again chipped a pass to Parkinson on a Bulldog run. When Hernandez came out of the net to cut down on the angle, Parkinson slid a cross-field shot into the lower left corner.

“They dropped their (defenders) back well and protected well,” a grim Monte coach Rick Denholm said of the Eagles. “I thought they wanted the game more than we did until we got behind. We had a silly mistake in the first half that pretty much cost us the game.”

Seaberg credited a defensive shift, with Marseiffe moving into the middle, with helping to spark Tuesday’s improvement. He also cited the play of Thompson up front and Isaac Horton on defense.

Hernandez also had a couple of critical saves in regulation, tipping Malpass’ long free kick over the top of the net in the first half.

Centralia topped Montesano’s JV team, 3-1.