ROCHELLE — With just seconds remaining in Tuesday’s conference game against the LaSalle-Peru Cavaliers, the Hubs varsity soccer team pushed the ball down the middle of the field looking for one final goal to avoid suffering its first draw of the season.

Rochelle had the wind at its back in the second half, and the Hubs used the conditions to their advantage, keeping the ball in LaSalle-Peru’s zone for nearly all of the final 40 minutes. Junior Jessee Infante found freshman Brayan Orozco during Rochelle’s final offensive surge, but Orozco’s buzzer-beating shot flew left of the goal and sailed out of bounds, ending Tuesday’s conference battle in a 5-5 tie.

“We didn’t start off our best,” head coach Brad Male said. “They scored a couple early ones on us and it’s tough to come back from a deficit. They’re a tough team and they played well… We started playing the game I know we can play over the last 15 minutes.”

Rochelle and LaSalle-Peru’s first conference game went down to the wire as well, with the Hubs escaping victorious by a score of 4-3. The Cavaliers scored on a penalty kick (15’) to take the lead on Tuesday before Rochelle sophomore Austin Brown (29’) equalized the match off a pass from junior Adolfo Flores.

Freshman Zane Walters connected with Infante (39’) just minutes before the end of the first half, but LaSalle-Peru bounced right back with another goal to leave the match tied 2-2 at halftime. The Cavaliers controlled the middle of the field all game long, using through balls to beat Rochelle defenders down field and create 1-on-1 matchups for LaSalle-Peru forwards to score.

Tuesday’s game was the second of a back-to-back after Rochelle defeated Mendota 3-0 on Monday, but Male said he didn’t think fatigue was a factor for the Hubs against LaSalle-Peru.

“The wind is definitely an advantage when you can kick the ball long,” Male said. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t keep the ball on the ground and play our through balls like I know we can… It’s tough to play back-to-back games with the intensity we have, but hopefully we can come back and play solid on Thursday.”

The Cavaliers added two more goals (44’ and 57’) to jump ahead 4-2 in the second half before Orozco (60’) snuck a pass from Infante into the LaSalle-Peru net to bring Rochelle within one. After conceding a fifth goal (63’), the Hubs countered after senior Komla Gati (72’) dribbled in a pass from junior Ruben Herrera and Infante (76’) tied the game off an assist by Orozco.

Rochelle (10-5-1, 3-2-1 NIB-12 West) will face Geneseo on the road Thursday before facing Dixon and Sterling next week.