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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – It could not have been a closer game – or more confusing – for the players, the coaches, the crowd, even the referees.
With the scored tied 3-3 at the end of regulation, the Middletown Mustangs girls soccer team needed two sets of overtime penalty shootouts to narrowly defeat the Clear Lake Cardinals 4-2 (on the second set of penalty kicks) and advance to the quarterfinals of the North Coast Section Division III tournament.
The Clear Lake loss to the Mustangs drops the Lady Cards out of the single-elimination NCS playoff tournament and ends their season with a devastating defeat.
“Our girls played with heart,” a visibly upset Clear Lake head coach Paul Larrea said after the loss, “just like they have all season.”
Fifth-year Mustangs head coach Louise Owens acknowledged, “That’s the most exciting game I’ve ever been involved in,” moments before being doused with Silly String by a hard-charging pack of her Middletown players.
The first score of the game came off of lightning-fast Midfielder Hanna Diaz’s foot from close in at 13:15, and the Mustang’s took the lead 1-0.
Of her freshman captain, Owens said, “Hanna Diaz is just a standout player. She does a great job controlling the ball, and other teams have been keying in on her, and she manages to get around them anyway.”
Four minutes later, however, Clear Lake defender Nadine Bradley made a long pass into a crowd in front of Middletown goalkeeper Cheyenne Snow, and Briana Dutcher netted it for the Cardinals to tie the score at 1-1.
The Mustangs kept up the pressure against the Lady Cards, and scored their second goal of the game with 16:04 remaining in the first half off a Diaz pass assist to Middletown forward Kiley Agapoff.
But again, four minutes later, Clear Lake answered. Forward Kristy Hayes drove a header into the Mustangs’ net off a pass assist from Savannah De Keyser to tie the score at 2-2, where it remained until halftime.
“This is a very different team than we played earlier in the season,” Owens said about the Cardinals. “These girls came out hungry, and I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Clear Lake. It made for a very exciting game!”
Middletown scored within the first minute of the second half to regain the lead at 3-2 after Mustangs captain Taylor Sloan netted a rebound from a Kimmi Klewe goal attempt, but the Cardinals tied it up midway through on a beautiful bending free kick from 30-plus yards by Nadine Bradley into an upper corner of Middletown’s goal.
With the game tied at 3-all, and after two 10-minute sudden-death overtime periods didn’t change that score, the game went into its first penalty shootout, and that’s when the confusion began.
Diaz and Agapoff scored on their penalty kicks for Middletown, but Telia Paskaly’s shot bounced off the post, and Jen Hayes kicked it wide for Clear Lake.
When Mustang captain Katy August put her penalty shot in the goal, Middletown erupted in victorious celebration, the referees walked off the field and the coaches exchanged end-of-game handshakes.
It wasn’t until several minutes later, when a fan in the stands ran onto the field and frantically talked to Coach Larrea that it was determined Clear Lake still had a chance to tie the game in the best-of-five shot penalty kick shootout.
The referees retook the field, the players filed back to midfield to watch, and the highly unlikely happened: the Cardinals made their final three penalty kicks and the Mustangs missed their last two, leaving the shootout tied at 3-all.
Owens said of the confusion, “It would help if the refs understood the overtime policies first, prior to it coming, but we figured it out.”
The second penalty kickoff began with forward Brittany Cash scoring for Middletown, and when the Cardinal’s Kristy Hayes had her penalty shot blocked by goalkeeper Ashley Lescher, the Mustangs erupted in celebration for a second time, piling on each other at midfield.
That merriment was short-lived when it was realized the second shootout was also a best-of-five contest.
Emily Reed, Michelle Hill and Maddie Kucer netted their penalty kicks for the Mustangs, and Emily Norwood and Nadia Tipton made theirs for the Cardinals, but when Savananah De Keyser missed her shot, Clear Lake trailed by an insurmountable 4-2 in the second kickoff, and the game was over.
Again the Mustangs began to rejoice in victory, but skepticism had set in, and when a Middletown player shouted, “Are we sure we won?” it was enough to stop the celebration temporarily, until Clear Lake’s Amber Poff approached for her penalty shot and the referees called the match officially over.
Now the Mustangs – for the fourth time that night – could celebrate, this time for real.
“It just seemed like we had to have too many celebrations before they (the referees) figured it out,” Owens said after the win.
“I have nothing to say,” Larrea said after the devastating loss. “My parents told me not to say anything if I’ve got nothing nice to say.”
“Well, he’s a very passionate man,” Owens said about her opposing coach. “He loves the sport, he’s been around a long time, and I have the utmost respect for him.”
With the win the Mustangs advance to the quarterfinals of the NCS Division III playoff tournament, putting their 16-1-2 season record on the line when they play St. Vincent de Paul on Wednesday, Nov. 10, at Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park.
The Lady Cards finished their season with a 12-11-3 overall record.
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