The Lehi and American Fork boys soccer teams played a lively, hard-fought Region 4 contest Friday night under the lights. The Cavemen led at one point and the score was tied twice, but the Pioneers eventually prevailed 4-3 at home.

American Fork actually got on the board first. Just eight minutes into the match, junior Matthew Brown found the target to give the visitors the early advantage.

It took Lehi 17 minutes to get the equalizer. Senior midfielder Landon Jacobsen passed the ball deep to freshman defender Benjamin Driggs.

His first attempt was deflected by Caveman keeper Andrew Hall, but he recollected the ball and shot again, this time successfully. The score remained 1-1 at the half.

The Pioneers opened the second period with some serious energy, and it produced quick results. Just seconds into the half, junior defender Isaiah Altamirano broke free on the right side and sent a rocket into the net.

Lehi’s pressure on the goal approach was relentless during this stretch, and four minutes later they scored again when senior defender Cristian Rodriquez relayed the ball across the field to junior midfielder Conner Miles for another precision strike.

To their credit, the American Fork players seemed unfazed by this rapid change in fortune. On the sideline, coach Nate Lowe yelled, “You have to match their intensity,” and his players responded.

With 22 minutes remaining, Caveman junior Kyle Woolstenhulme suddenly found himself open after working his way down the right sideline and fired inside the near post to reduce the deficit to one.

Nine minutes later, junior Branson Wilbur was deep on the left side and made a cross from a really tough angle which caught the inside margin of the far post to even the score once again.

“When you play with emotion and energy, you can compete with anyone,” Lowe said.

This was a physical game right from the beginning, but both teams took it up another notch as the clock was winding down, and several cards were issued involving players from both teams.

With eight minutes left, Lehi was awarded a corner. The Pioneers didn’t get a shot off initially, but on the same possession, Driggs centered the ball to the far post from the right sideline, and Miles was there to finish the play with a header for what turned out to be the game-winner.

Both freshman Hall and his Lehi counterpart, junior Tanner Munson, played very well between the posts and produced with some impressive saves.

“They came out and put away their chances while we were stymied,” said Pioneer coach Jerry Preisendorf. “We’ve got to learn to put teams away when we get ahead. They did not quit, and that’s a compliment to them.”

However, the Lehi coach was pleased at his team’s improvement in a couple of areas they’ve been working on in practice, namely taking more shots and possessing well.

“We were able to get behind the defense quite a bit,” Preisendorf said. “Landon and Conner played almost the whole game, and what a great night for our freshman Ben, to get a goal and an assist in a game like this.”

He also said that junior forwards Kyle Curtis and Jake Clements did a good job of keeping up the attack in the front.

The Cavemen (2-7-0, 2-3-0) welcome Lone Peak (3-4-1, 2-2-1) on April 15 at 3:30 p.m., while the Pioneers (8-1-1, 4-1-1) visit Pleasant Grove (6-1-2, 4-1-0) the same day with kickoff set for 7 p.m.

Beky Beaton can be reached at bbeaton@heraldextra.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BeatonWrite.