PHOTOS: Rising Sun girls soccer ties North East late, wins playoff game in penalty shootout10/31/2018
Score one for the power of positive thinking. Seventy-eight seconds away from a season-ending defeat to rival North East, the Rising Sun girls soccer team tied it on an Abigail Backert goal before prevailing in a penalty shootout 1-1, (3-1 penalties) Tuesday, October 30, at Calvert Regional Park. Rosa Reid, Raigan McLoughlin, and Katelyn Willis each converted a penalty kick and goalie Kira Watson made two saves in the shootout. The shootout is as much a test of attitude and nerves as it is skill. The Tigers practiced penalties the day before. Based on what he witnessed at practice combined with a process of elimination helped coach Johnny Hartnett choose his five shootout lineup.
“Practicing PKs and seeing who could keep it cool, calm, and collected in front of the goal," Hartnett said. "It's funny because you have some kids you would trust and want to take PKs and they'll come up and say, 'Coach, I don't want to do it, the ones you would say I want you in front of goal taking it. It's a mentality thing." The penalty shootout is a best-of-five with the two teams alternating shots. Reid was the first to go and coolly slid a low shot into the corner of the goal. "I didn't know I was going to be the first shooter, but I was happy I was," she said. "I got excited. I like pressure on me. It makes me work harder." She kept things simple. "Stay calm, be relaxed, and don't look at the goalie," said Reid. North East's standout back Emma Haggerty was next and she responded by blasting a shot into the upper corner of the net. McLoughlin put Rising Sun ahead for good with another well-placed low shot. One might say she saw it coming. "You just block everybody out and you focus on the goal and making it," said McLoughlin. "You've just got to envision the ball going into the net." She admitted she was a bit anxious but was able to fight through it. "I was scared, but I just kept my cool and I stayed confident," she said. "I was like, 'I got this'. I trust my team. We all have a really good bond and we just trust each other." McLoughlin remembered advice her father provided. "I was scared but my dad always tells me, 'deep breaths and be positive' and that's what I did," McLoughlin said. "And it worked well." Watson, back in goal after spending most of the season as a midfielder, made a save on the next Indians' attempt, so Rising Sun led 2-1 heading into the third round. Neither team was able to score in the third round. Willis received the opportunity she desired and made the most of it. "I was kind of hoping [to get a chance], actually, because it was great to represent my team in PKs," Willis said. "We took PKs in the practice before. I did pretty good so I was like, 'okay'." Willis placed a low shot to the goalie's right and into the lower corner of the net. "For my PKs I just go to the same spot every time," she said. "But I already saw the goalie moving to the other side, the opposite side of where I shot, so since she was already moving that way, it was just an easy little shot." Like Reid and McLoughlin before her, Willis was impervious to the pressure, "I was definitely nervous," she acknowledged. "Very, very nervous, but everyone said be calm and stay relaxed. And as [assistant coach] Peter [Krummel] says, 'Think happy thoughts'." With the Tigers ahead 3-1 in the shootout, North East needed to make its next attempt to stay alive. Watson took a couple quick hops to her right to make the save and secure the victory. Watson's strategy channeled a Shakira song. The hips don't lie. "I watch their hips," she said. "If they are more open, I can read which way they are going to go. If their hips are open, they're most likely going to the side, depending on which way they're at. So I just read them the best I could." Watson had faced about 50 penalties in practice. "We literally just practiced penalties [the day before the game]," she said. "That was all that we did all season and I think that was a good refresher." Watson, a senior, began her high school career as a goalkeeper and has valuable big-game experience. Bekah Culver had a solid season in net for the Tigers while Watson excelled in the midfield. "I volunteered to go in because I'm actually having surgery on my ankle right after this season so this would be my last opportunity to play my position in high school," Watson said. "And we both kind of agreed that it would be a good idea to be in goal for playoffs." Hartnett says he is extremely fortunate. "It's nice having the option to have two quality goalkeepers on our team," the coach said. "Most coaches don't have that so it's good to have options. It was always in the back of our heads. We knew that if we needed to, we could put Kira in the goal. She did great on the field all year. There might be a game down the road in the playoffs where she might be back on the field. We still have a lot of faith in Bekah back there, too. But [Watson] played outstanding today. She was awesome." Watson made one of the game's saves with four minutes left in the first half when she jumped to get her hand on a free kick and parried it off the crossbar and quickly scooped up the rebound. There was little Watson could do to prevent North East from taking the lead with 6:25 remaining in regulation. Alex Hoffman dribbled in alone from 35 yards out and slotted a shot past the Tigers' goalkeeper. Rising Sun equalized with 1:18 left. As the ball bounced in the middle of the field, the Tigers' Annalia Webb was able to get her foot on it ahead of a charging goalkeeper Delaney McDilda. As the ball rolled to the left of the net, Backert raced in and finished to level the score, 1-1. "I don't really know who crossed it but someone crossed it over," Backert said. "Annalia touched it around the goalie and I knew she didn't have the right angle on the shot so I went and just hit it right in the goal." Backert said she remained confident even with time ticking down. "I wasn't really that concerned because we had pressure on them more the second half and we just kept missing our shots," she said. "But I knew we would eventually get one in. So when we got one in with under two minutes left, I was relieved, but I knew it would happen." After two scoreless 10-minute overtime periods, the outcome came down to the penalty shootout where Rising Sun was able to beat North East for the second time this season after falling to the Indians in last year's region tournament. "It's great," said Watson. "Knowing that I'm a senior and I can get out with a county sweep is awesome. The way we have worked hard and always have that challenge against the county teams, it's just awesome to be able to beat them." North East coach Matt Roberts was hugely disappointed in the result, but not his team's performance. "Everything we asked them to do coming into the game, they did," Roberts said. "We knew it was going to be tough game. Two evenly matched teams. It's a rival game. Rising Sun did a great job. The didn't stop 'til the end, scoring a goal late. It's not fun to the lose but I talked to the girls about sometimes things don't go your way, but to be very proud of the effort you gave. And I couldn't have asked for more out of the girls." He was also proud of the way his team regrouped following the demoralizing tying goal. "It can be [difficult]," said Roberts. "The character of our girls, I think they responded pretty well. I think we came right back. It was back and forth in overtime. They had a period of play where they had some chances. We had a period where we had chances. It can be very tough, but I was very proud of how our girls responded." Hartnett was both happy and relieved. "A little bit stressful," he said of the final few minutes of regulation. "We'll say that. Little bit stressful. I always have faith in our girls. I know they can create opportunities and I was never over here walking up and down the sidelines saying this game is over. I know our girls can always put it together. We've got a lot of impact players, they start stringing together passes and playing the kind of soccer we want, which they did, we always have a chance in any game. We knew that this game could go either way. We know we beat North East during the regular season, but that doesn't mean anything. We knew that our section is very tight. We knew this was a winnable game, but also a losable game. North East, they're a great team with a great coach. I'm very happy with our victory." Rising Sun will host Fallston at Rising Sun High Thursday afternoon at 3:30 in the region semifinals (section final). Fallston has eliminated the Tigers from the postseason each of the last five years. The Tigers have not scored a goal in that stretch. Comments are closed.
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