Aberdeen Central showed it can play under control as well as under duress during a 5-2 boys’ soccer win over Spearfish at Brownell Activities Complex Friday evening.

The Golden Eagles built a 4-0 lead, watched the momentum completely switch, and then regrouped on the way to the victory.

“We saw what happened when we make a mistake and it bounces in and we get an own goal and all of a sudden they have a little bit of juice,” said Central coach Lance Mohr. “And then they get another goal and all of a sudden your four-goal lead turns into two and now we have to pick it back up. We had kind of gone into coast mode.”

Fortunately for the Eagles, it was a valuable lesson that didn’t come at a big cost.

“This is an important learning lesson and one that didn’t result in pain for us, which is good to survive,” Mohr said.

Central was on cruise control after three first-half goals with the wind. The Eagles added another goal to start the second half before the Spartans mounted a rally.

They not only cut the deficit in half, they began peppering Central goalie Camden Fauth. The junior was up to the challenge turning away a couple of attempts on nifty saves while another one hit the cross bar.

“Camden made some fantastic saves,” Mohr said. “We’ve seen that in the preseason and the development that he’s had during his tenure has been off the charts, but today he was fantastic.”

Fauth knew the pressure was on, but was determined not to relinquish the lead.

“In those moments you just have to put your body on the line and do everything it takes to not let anything else in,” Fauth said.

It proved to be a memorable contest for Fauth, who accomplished the extremely rare feat of scoring a goal as a goalie. Fauth was clearing the ball and put a solid boot on it. The wind-aided ball soared 60 yards through the air, took one bounce and went over the top of the Spearfish goalie and into the back of the net.

“It’s a dream come true. They’re very rare,” Fauth said. “I just had the wind the first half and thought use it to my advantage.”

Mohr said he has only witnessed one other like it in person.

“It was just the perfect storm. I didn’t even know what to do, because I was so surprised,” Mohr said of the accomplishment. “It was something else. That’s all I can say.”

Fauth said that while his kick appeared to be on line with the goal, he wasn’t expecting it to go in.

“It looked good at first, but I didn’t expect it to go in because it never happens,” he said. “I just gave it a shot and it happened. It was crazy.”

When asked to compare some of the big saves he has experienced through the years and his first-ever goal, Fauth responded, “Those big stops, those are crazy, but scoring a goal as a goalkeeper, it’s amazing. You never get to do it.”

Fauth’s goal came in the first half along with other goals by Tyler Bain and Sekou Gogue. Gabe Johnson scored early in the second half before Creighton Aberle’s goal in the 72nd minute put an end to the Spearfish rally.

Mohr was pleased with the way his players responded when things started to turn against them.

“I thought we showed some really good leadership. There was a lot of positive attitude,” he said. “It didn’t shift negative when things were going tough. I thought we really held serve there which I was happy to see.”

Central hosts Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood at 2 this afternoon.

Mohr is happy to have the first contest under the belt.

“Good to get a line in the sand,” Mohr said. “Now we can start to fix, tweak, work on things and start to really get after it.”

Spearfish 0 2 – 2

Aberdeen Central 3 2 – 5

First Half

1, AC, Tyler Bain, (Gabe Johnson), 20^th minute; 2, AC, Sekou Gogue (Jordan Grieben), 21^st minute; 3, AC, Camden Fauth, 22^nd Minute.

Second Half

4, Gabe Johnson (Derek Arunasalam), 41^st minute; 5, S, own goal, 52^nd minute; 6, Kellan Scott, penalty kick), 55^th minute; 7, AC, Creighton Aberle (Gogue), 72^nd minute.

Shots on Goal: Spearfish 10; Aberdeen Central 9.

Goalies: Spearfish, Jacob Donner (4 saves); Aberdeen Central, Camden Fauth (8 saves).