WARDEN — The Warden Cougars recovered from an early 1-0 first-half deficit to visiting Connell, but the Eagles scored a goal late to fend off the Cougars in South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) soccer competition Thursday afternoon.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard first in the game’s 15th minute when Julio Martinez found the back of the net for a 1-0 Connell advantage.

Warden wasted little time in tying the conference match when Cesar Santana scored the equalizer one minute later to help the Cougars pull even at home.

Warden head coach Ed Aguilar said his Cougars soccer team played strong against a tough Connell team.

“Well, it was pretty even,” he said of the game. “It looked like it was going to come down to who was the last team to score.”

Aguilar was right.

Connell scored the go-ahead goal with 15 minutes left in the contest and a stingy Eagles defense kept the Cougars off of the scoreboard to close out the 2-1 SCAC victory.

Although Warden fell to in the SCAC contest, Aguilar was proud of the way his team performed on the field.

“Overall, I am happy with the kids,” he said. “They have been playing better in the last couple of games.

“They are getting to know each other. We have two freshmen up front and they are learning to play with each other.”

While Connell managed to hold off the Cougars late, Warden had numerous chances to tie the contest, Aguilar said.

“We created a lot of opportunities,” he said. “We need to score on them.”

Despite allowing two goals in the loss, Warden junior goalie Martin Aguilar kept the Cougars in the game with his performance in front of the Warden net.

“My goalkeeper saved us a couple of times,” coach Aguilar said. “He played well.”

The Cougars return to the field Saturday when Warden travels to Goldendale, Wash., to take on the Timberwolves at 11 a.m.