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Orem • Mountain View had every excuse to give up in a key Region Seven soccer battle with Murray Tuesday.

The Bruins were missing five starters and trailed much of the game.

But freshman Elder Aguayo got a late game-tying goal and, minutes later, Levi Bergen delivered the winner to lead Mountain View to a 3-2 victory over the slumping Spartans.

"I felt like we tried to do things with smoke and mirrors," said Bruins coach Mark Graham. "It seemed like the first game of the season. It was pretty rough for us."

Mountain View, which is battling defending 4A champion Skyline for the region title in one of the state's most balanced leagues, lost one starter to a concussion, another to a family activity and three others to what Graham called internal problems.

That forced him to play athletes in unfamiliar positions, and some young players such as Aguayo without much varsity experience.

But it all worked against the slumping Spartans as the Bruins won their fifth game in six tries.

Mountain View drew first blood when James Pena scored on a penalty kick about halfway through the first half. But Murray countered that with a penalty kick from Sean Speirs and then a long shot from the right side by Sam Hansgen.

It looked as though the Spartans, who won their first eight games but have dropped four of their past five, looked to be in control.

But, late in the game, Aguayo took a pass from Raul Lievano and got it past Murray goalie Tanner Critchfield.

"I can't describe it as a freshman scoring varsity and helping my team win," said Aguayo. "It was an incredible feeling. Raul passed it it to me and I hit it to the right of the goal."

That gave the Bruins some momentum and, minutes later, Bergen followed a shot by Pena that bounced off the goal post and buried it with his left foot for the game winner.

"I was dead tired and all cramped up, but I got it in," he said. "Coach Graham always told us to follow up the shot off the rebound. That's what I did."

As a result, Mountain View, though playing short-handed, left itself in a good position to battle Skyline for the league title.

Twitter @tribtomwharton —

Storylines

• Mountain View scores two goals in final minutes for come-from-behind win

• Levin Gergen scores game-winner off rebound

• Bruins have won five of past six games while Spartans lost for the fourth time in five games