Eagles fly into county final on penalty kicks
Marriotts Ridge awaits in Howard County title game
In 80 minutes of regulation and 20 more in overtime Thursday night, the Centennial boys soccer team had several chances to separate itself from visiting River Hill in the semifinals of the Howard County tournament.
As it turned out, the Eagles were just fine with earning a trip to Friday’s championship game on penalty kicks.
After a 1-1 tie through 100 minutes, Centennial got successful PK’s from Eddie Aguilar, Sammy Molz, Andrew Fritz and Kodee Karcher, while goalie Parker Gerrity came up with a key save to help the home team claim a 4-2 win in the shootout.
Centennial will take an 8-1 mark into Friday’s 5 p.m. county championship game against Marriotts Ridge at Wilde Lake. Marriotts
River Hill’s Andrew Bian, right, reacts to Centennial’s first goal during a Howard County boys soccer semifinal game Thursday.
Ridge also needed penalty kicks against Howard to advance in the other semifinal.
With his diving save on Jonah Stoutenborough’s strike aimed for the right corner the highlight of the penalty kick session, Gerrity
put the Eagles’ performance in simple perspective shortly after the team celebrated.
“We put all our hearts out there today — it was our game to win,” he said. “We haven’t won a county title in 25-plus years, and we want to win.”
On Thursday, the Eagles dominated possession early and got rewarded for their effort midway through the first half.
Senior midfielder Cam Grable sent a ball to the left side that Kevin Salazar put a good first touch on to chip a ball inside the far post from 8 yards.
The Eagles had opportunities to pad the lead, but two shots from Aguilar hit the post and another chance in front by Karcher went just wide.
In the second half, the Hawks had better play at midfield to get balls forward and create chances. They earned a free kick from 35 yards out that Tony Paulino perfectly placed in the far corner to tie the score at 1.
“It’s all about the players,” Centennial coach Justin Thomas said. “This group is a special group and one thing I try to achieve is making this team player led, because they run it. They love to play, they have great chemistry — the best I’ve seen here at Centennial — and they fight.”