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One team aside, almost no separation exists in the Interstate Athletic Conference boys soccer standings. Fittingly, Georgetown Prep's 2-1 win at Bullis was decided by inches, several times.

The Little Hoyas did all their scoring in the first 20 minutes, capitalizing on strokes of good fortune on both goals.

Maybe it was time they caught a break.

"We've been getting a little unlucky all season," said junior Nat Eggleston, who logged a goal and an assist. "We've struggled a little bit, and it's not even that we've been playing bad. We were down near the bottom, but now we're back up, and wins like this get us on the right track."

Prep (4-6-4 overall, 2-4-2 IAC) can't win the conference title, not with Episcopal's unbeaten record and just two weeks remaining in the regular season. But it not only rebounded from a six-game winless streak with Thursday's win, it avenged a 3-2 loss to the Bulldogs (6-6-3, 2-5) three weeks prior. And the Little Hoyas can still nab league runner-up honors.

They got started early. Less than two minutes in, a loose ball squirted in the box onto the opportunistic right foot of Eggleston, who easily beat Bullis goalkeeper Stephen Redlack.

"It just came right to me," said Eggleston.

There was nothing fluky about the Little Hoyas' second goal. Midway through the first half, Eggleston — who dished brilliantly all night from the midfield —found winger Brian Ayres with a pass up the left flank, just narrowly missing the head of a leaping Bullis defender. Ayres sent an equally pretty thru ball across the box, escaping a sliding Redlack and catching striker Marcus Salandy in stride for an easy put-away.

On the other side, the Bulldogs actually had more offensive opportunities, with striker Luis Calderon and midfielder Kamar Saint-Louis — the team's top scorer — creating dangerous chances all night. But their only goal, a strong one-on-one move by defender Phillip Nwosu, came with just two seconds left in the game.

That could have tied the game, if not for a controversial call. Two minutes earlier, sophomore Jordan Friedlander got open on the left side of the box and hammered home a pass from senior Michael Shuster. After a brief discussion, the officials ruled Friedlander offsides.

"Finishing has been our challenge all season long," said head coach Andres Parra. "Just to be able to knock the ball around; these guys are talented, but not being able to finish the ball as much as we'd like to. Prep's a challenge but we're all of us so close in the IAC, that it's been a nice challenge all the way around."