Penalty kicks are pretty dramatic to start with. But in the Jefferson District Championship between Charlottesville and Western Albemarle, there was an added tension as Charlottesville thought they’d already won at one point. But after some deliberation, the officials explained that more PKs were coming and the Warriors knotted things back up. Finally in the first kick of sudden death, LP Desch put her chance in for Western, and Warriors goalkeeper Lexy Eckerle made a game clinching save with her leg on Charlottesville’s ensuing kick to break the scoreless tie with a 4-3 showing in penalty shots.
“I just dove for it, I was kind of able to read which way it was going,” Eckerle said. “I got it.”
While the vast majority of the game was spent in the middle of the field as both defenses did their job, in both the first and second half, it was Charlottesville that created the most scoring opportunities. Black Knights forward Abigail Intollubbe-Chmil nearly put her team on the board in the second half when a ball slipped past Eckerle and the freshman got a clean look at the net. However, her shot, as so many did for both squads on the day, sailed just wide.
“It was nerve wracking to be a goalie tonight because they were bombarding me with shots,” Eckerle said.
Desch also nearly broke the tie towards the end of the second half, but her shot flew over the net.
Once regulation came to a close, the game was delayed 30 minutes before four 5-minute overtimes were played. But each extra period was not much different from the first and second half, however, as Western was able to apply a little bit more pressure than it had in the first two halves.
“To be honest I wasn’t very pleased with the way we were playing for the first 80 minutes,” said Western coach Lesley Gourdet. “We were playing reactive soccer and I don’t play that game. We have a certain style and we’re supposed to play that way no matter who we play. So after the delay I told them to go out and play the rest of the ball game the way we know how. I was much happier with that.”
Finally in the penalty shots, Charlottesville jumped out to a 3-2 lead, and under the assumption that there were only three PKs thought the game was over.
“I got a little nervous because really I thought the game was over,” Eckerle said.
However, it was best of five, and the Black Knights missed their last two shots while Kelly Abrams came through for Western with the game on the line to set up Desch and Eckerle’s game winning combo.
“I just tried to be as relaxed as possible,” Desch said. “For me , in PKs or in strokes when I’m playing field hockey, the key is to stay relaxed and block everything out.”
Despite his team’s loss, Opere was hardly discouraged by the result.
“The last two games, we didn’t play well,” Opere said. “Today I thought we played very well, like we were the best team. We had our chances but could not finish them. In the penaty shots we had a 2-point and then we blew it, but that’s soccer and the girls have to learn from that. I still thought they played a much better game than before so I’m still proud of them.”
The Black Knights will host John Handley on Monday at 5 p.m.
Western Albemarle will head to Sherando also on Monday at 7 p.m.
