Despite a plethora of shots on goal, the Brownwood Lions were unable to find the back of the net until 13:15 remained in the contest, then added an insurance goal less than three minutes later for a 2-0 victory over District 5-4A soccer rival Little River Academy Friday night at Gordon Wood Stadium.

With the win, the league-leading Lions (9-1-2, 6-0) stretched their unbeaten streak to 10 matches and completed the district sweep of Little River Academy (2-14-4, 0-7).

“It was a very frustrating night,” said Lions head coach Michael Westerman. “It’s difficult when you’re trying different things out and you’re just not able to find the back of the net. And the longer the game goes the harder and more frustrating it becomes. A lot of that becomes a mindset issue and you have to stay in the game and not lose your focus, and not let how the game’s going dictate how you’re going to continue to play.”

Alex Vaquera finally put the Lions on the board, after Brownwood scored four times in the first meeting between the two teams back on Feb. 10.

“Alex had been shooting on frame and unfortunately most of them had been going right to the keeper, he made some big saves,” Westerman said. “We had a lot of good looks, and Alex had a lot of good looks in the attacking third. We just kept encouraging him to shoot the ball and not to lose his confidence, he’s one of the best shooters on the team. He put his head down, forgot about missed shots, kept shooting, and was able to find the back of the net.”

Then, just 2:32 later, Raven Prado tallied a crucial insurance goal that essentially iced the victory with 10:43 remaining.

Regarding coming away with a win despite it not being the best night overall for the Lions, Westerman said, “We’ve been preaching about being confident and not being content. We understand we’re a very talented team but we can’t become content because we’ve been winning games. We’ve also been a part of games where the best team doesn’t always win. You can never let up, you have to give your best 80 minutes every single game because anything can happen, and the game can change in a matter of five seconds. We’ve been on both sides of that and we were fortunate enough to keep our heads in it and come away with the win.”

The Lions head to Gatesville (6-9, 1-5) at 7 p.m. Tuesday for their next outing.