Teen GK Paulsen saves the day for Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix are through to the semifinals of the FFA Cup for the first time in the club’s history after stunning Melbourne City in a dramatic penalty shootout.
19-year-old goalkeeper Alex Paulsen was the hero at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Wednesday, pulling off three saves in the shootout before Nicholas Pennington buried the 14th overall attempt to edge the reigning A-League Men 4-3.
Paulsen, making just his second start due to an injury to Oli Sail, batted away shots from Rosytn Griffiths, Scott Galloway and Marco Tilio, while City captain Scott Jamieson skied not only his attempt in the shootout, but also an earlier effort in the first half of the game, which finished 0-0 after extra-time.
Paulsen dived to his right to save Tilio’s effort in sudden death, saving the day for the Phoenix after Louis Fenton and captain Alex Rufer had their shots saved by City gloveman Tom Glover during a lengthy shootout which was locked at 2-2 after 10 attempts, while
Joshua Laws missed the target.
Ben Waine, Jaushua Sotirio and Clayton Lewis were successful with their spot-kicks before Pennington, an Australian Under-23 international born and raised in Italy, stepped up to the spot and slotted the winning goal.
Making the win even more impressive, the Phoenix were without a host of key players. Already missing Sail due to injury and Reno Piscopo and Matthew Bozinovski due to COVID, they lost a further three players after an undisclosed trio recorded “inconsistent” rapid antigen tests 24 hours before the game.