By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

Some late-game magic propelled Callaway’s girls’ soccer team to a dramatic 4-2 home win over Region 5-AA foe Temple on Tuesday.

The Lady Cavaliers were trailing by a pair of goals with less than 15 minutes left, and the situation was looking desperate.

Callaway was a long way from done, though.

Beginning with an Ella Cho goal, Callaway scored four goals in less than 12 minutes to pull off a 4-2 victory.

It was a key win for Callaway, which bounced back from a 9-0 region loss to Lamar County on Monday.

Callaway improved to 4-1 against region opponents.

“That shows that the girls have the drive, and they want it,” Callaway head coach Shonna Yawn said. “They went for it.”

The comeback began when Cho beat the Temple defense for a goal with 12:22 remaining.

Less than two minutes later, Ashley Bowden was fouled near the goal, and she banged home the penalty kick to deadlock the score at 2-2 with 10:36 to play.

With 2:34 to play Temple was called for another foul, and Marisa Acevedo stepped up for a penalty kick with an opportunity to give her team the lead.

Acevedo rocketed the ball into the net for the go-ahead goal, and Callaway led 3-2.

With 56 seconds left, Callaway put an exclamation mark on the come-from-behind win with Alyssa Niner scoring on a break-away goal.

Yawn said the victory was all about “perseverance, and knowing that we were still in it.”

In Monday’s game, Callaway was unable to keep pace with a strong Lamar County team, but Yawn wasn’t disappointed with the effort.

“We took a big loss last night, but we played our heart out,” Yawn said. “It just wasn’t enough.”

In the boys’ game, Temple surged to a 2-0 lead five minutes into the game, and it held on for a 3-1 victory.

It was the second consecutive close loss for Callaway.

On Monday against region-leading Lamar County, Callaway surrendered two late goals in a 2-1 loss.

A day later, Callaway lost another hard-fought game to fall to 1-4 in the region.

“We’re young in a lot of places,” said Mike Petite, whose team shared the region championship last season. “Often early that (youth) shows. We grow into it. All too often, it’s too late.”

Callaway cut Temple’s lead in half on a goal by Joe Neese early in the second half.

It remained a 2-1 game until Temple scored in the final minutes.