It was one heck of a time to try goalkeeping for the first time, but there was Diego Lozano in the net, wearing his injured teammate’s jersey, in the semifinals of the Section 2A boys soccer tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Thomas O. Anderson fields.

“They decided after a couple of practices,” said Lozano, a junior. “I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Lozano stopped the first six shots he faced, and the one he gave up — the game-winning goal in Willmar’s 1-0 upset — was a shot even the most experienced high school goalie would have missed.

The Cardinals’ Abdinasir Abdi, an all-state candidate, according to his coaches, scored the goal after a couple of nifty moves to give himself a clear shot from the top of the keeper’s box with just 1:54 remaining in regulation.

“That goal wasn’t Diego’s fault,” Cougars coach Jerrad Aspelund said. “It was a good play and a good shot. He had the goalie going one way and went the other way with it.”

Lozano, playing in place of Alex Finke, who broke his leg at the end of their regular season, said he thought he had a chance to make the save.

“But my body didn’t go where I wanted it to go,” he said.

East nearly tied the game in the closing seconds when defender Akram Mohamed ran up and blocked a kick from just inside the Willmar goal line, but the ball deflected off the crossbar.

“This was the biggest win in Willmar soccer history,” Cardinals assistant coach Matt Williams said. “We lost to East in the semifinals on this field last year. We were pretty pumped up to play.”

East was the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Willmar was the fifth seed and reached the semifinals with a 2-1 upset of New Ulm in the quarterfinals.

Earlier this season, the Cougars defeated Willmar 3-1. But they were able to put just two shots on goal on Tuesday.

“We got outplayed, plain and simple,” Aspelund said. “They were the better team. We didn’t play bad today, but we just didn’t have enough.”

The Cougars’ Gnamo Bati and Brandon Welter each made some nice plays in the first half, only to shoot high and wide, but the Cardinals carried the play in the second half before they finally broke the scoreless stalemate.

The Cougars finished the year with a 13-3-3 record. They were ranked ninth in the Class A state poll at the end of the regular season.

“We had a great season,” Aspelund said.