La Plata boys soccer wins in penalty kicks, advances in playoffs
Warriors beat Calvert, advance to 2A section final
Through 100 minutes of regulation and overtime play of Tuesday’s 2A South Region Section I semifinal contest, the La Plata High School boys soccer team and visiting Calvert High had played to a scoreless draw and both teams were prepared to decide the verdict on penalty kicks.
La Plata (11-4 overall), which won the previous meeting between the two teams on Sept. 6, 3-0, had numerous good chanc- es in the two regulation halves, while neither team could do much in the two overtime sessions. Then throughout the penalty kick session, both teams appeared on the verge of celebrating at one point, although it was the host Warriors who would even- tually triumph.
La Plata, the top seed in Section I, will host third-seeded Thomas Stone in the section final at 5 p.m. Friday. Stone defeated Patuxent 5-3 in another section semifinal.
“When it comes to the playoffs, anything can happen and you just hope to survive,” Warriors head coach Chris Butler said. “We had a game like this last year in the playoffs against Patuxent. We were down 1-0 with three min- utes left and came back to score a goal in the last three minutes. Then we went on to win the region and make the state final.”
La Plata’s Dylan Ogletree and Alex Gordon both connected on their penalty kicks, while Calvert’s Matt Harris answered Ogletree’s goal, but Jack Damalouji sent his shot high. Justin Caron had the chance to end the contest for the Warriors, but his kick was denied on a diving save by Cavaliers junior goalkeeper Kevin Pitcher.
Predictably what followed was a virtually endless series of goals, with La Plata’s Seth Depriest-Kessler, Antonio
Lopez, Robbie Delozier and Ethan Becker immediately countered by scores from Calvert’s Carson Myles, Reese Weatherly, Ryan Wojciechowski, Ethan Matteson and Adam Hogenson.
When Pitcher denied La Plata’s Ethan Ganter by making a save, Calvert junior Michael Wollen had the chance to send his team to the next round. La Plata goalkeeper Ben LeBarron guessed that Wollen would aim for the right post and dove in that direction. LeBarron failed to make the save, but Wol- len’s shot squarely hit the left post.
“That was the best sound
that I’ve heard all season,” LeBarron said. “The other three players before him had kicked it to that side, so I thought he was going that direction. I saw it sail past me then I heard it hit the post. I was never so happy to hear a ball hit the post.”
La Plata’s Miles Payton then followed by sending a low shot into the right corner and past a diving Pitcher, which placed the burden of tying the shootout on the foot of freshman Braxton Gibbons. This time LeBarron guessed that the Cavaliers attacker would aim for the
left post and the Warriors goalie timed his dive per- fectly and deflected the shot away to preserve the victory for the hosts.
“I can’t be any prouder of my guys,” Calvert head coach Kevin Streete said. The fifth-seeded Cavaliers finish the season 5-9. “We only have two seniors and most of these guys are underclassmen and they completely bought into what we wanted to teach them. They gave me ev- erything they had tonight and all season. We could not have played any better than we did tonight. I am so, so proud of this team.”
On numerous occasions in regulation, La Plata appeared on the verge of getting at least one goal that would have prevented the overtime sessions and eventually the penalty kicks. Ogletree gave the Cavaliers defenders troubles in both halves, but his shots were either just off target or cradled by Pitcher. Caron who had the best chance when he took a cross from Depriest-Kessler and sent the shot just over the left corner of the crossbar in the early stages of the second half.