Midway through the second half, East Union’s Carlos Heredia alertly pounced on a loose ball at the 18 and fired it into the net for the only Lancers goal Tuesday in a 3-1 boys Valley Oak League soccer win for visiting first-place Patterson at Dino Cunial Stadium.

“It bounced off of a defender,” Heredia said. “He and I both looked at it, and then I saw a little bit of space, so I decided to take the shot.”

Andrew Diaz got the Tigers (6-0-1 VOL, 10-0-4 overall) on the board 17 minutes into the game on a penalty kick and added another first-half goal for a brace. Jose Farjado scored for Patterson in the second half.

The Tigers outshot the Lancers 13-7, with Patterson putting up nine shots on goal to just two for East Union. Daniel Diaz posted seven saves for the Lancers.

“We knew going in it would be tough,” East Union coach Ronnie Green said. “Patterson is a strong team – they are No. 2 in D-II – and are coached really well.

“Getting a PK early on in the game set us back, and we couldn’t recover. They played well and they outplayed us. We had a much better second half, and we just have to bounce back.”

The second-place Lancers (4-1-2, 10-4-6) trailed the Tigers on points, 16-14, coming into the game and while still in second place East Union now trails Patterson, 19-14.

“It was a holding game for us,” Tigers coach Luis Torres said. “We knew where we were in the standings, and the team that had to win was them.

“They wanted us to press and we didn’t do any of that. We got the PK early and that put us ahead, and the game plan worked.”

The Lancers travel to Mountain House on Thursday at 6:15 p.m.

Junior varsity

East Union 3, Patterson 3

Alex Hernandez notched a brace for the Lancers and C.J. Silva added a goal.

East Union’s Damian Valencia and Elias Salgado each posted an assist.