SAN ANTONIO — The price of admission was well worth every penny spent by fans at the Lone Star Conference Men's Soccer Championship Semifinals on Saturday evening as host St. Mary's University and DBU battled to a shootout, advancing 5-3 in a penalty kick shootout after tying 2-2 through 110 minutes.
The high drama started early in the contest, as the Patriots (6-5-8) took the lead in the 17th minute on a goal by Avery Brazzell on a long pass from Evan Lupo.
The Rattlers (12-3-4) answered with pressure of their own, taking 10 shots in the first half, but the score remained 1-0 at the half. In the 64th minute, senior defender
Gianluca Fiorini (Scandiano, Italy) found junior
Enzo Jaques (Porto Alegre, Brazil) to knot the game at 1-1.
DBU regained the lead in the 78th minute, however it was short-lived as six minutes later Jaques flicked a quick pass to junior
Adam Aboohamidi (Wolfforth, Texas) in the middle of the box. His shot went off the bottom of the crossbar, ricocheted into the keeper and into the back of the net to once again tie the game.
Rattlers' junior goalkeeper
Johnny Thurbin (Lingfield, Surrey, England), who was presented the LSC Goalkeeper of the Year on Thursday at the championship banquet, made three key saves in the final five minutes to preserve the tie and force overtime.
Neither team managed a shot on goal in the first overtime, though three combined shots all went wide. In the second OT, the teams tacked on four shots, two by each, but none were on goal, sending the contest into a shootout.
"It was a tricky game," said Head Coach
Johnny Clifford. "When we went down to 10 men, we had to prioritize what we created, and DBU pressed us hard and certainly could have scored a couple of times. We've worked hard on our mentality and I'm really proud of our guys. I thought they were rock solid mentally with having to come back twice from a goal down."
Sophomore
Gael Gallegos (Laredo, Texas) hit the left side of the net for the first kick. DBU's Hunter Dierlam also went left to tie the shootout at 1-1. Both teams made their next two kicks, as the Rattlers were scored by senior
Lewis Nohar (Cumnock, Scotland) and junior
Calum Murdoch (Christchurch, New Zealand). LSC Defensive Player of the Year
Luke Mulkey (Parker, Texas) made the team's fourth attempt and then Thurbin came up with a diving save to the left on the shot by Gavin Rosales to give StMU a 4-3 advantage. Jaques was fortunate on a paneka kick, as the Patriot's goalkeeper tried to change directions at the last minute but lost his footing as the ball sailed over his outstretched arm for the 5-3 victory.
StMU out-shot DBU 23-15 on the night, while Thurbin made six saves. The Rattlers also played the final 45 minutes of the game down one after losing a player to a booking.
The Rattlers will once again face Midwestern State, which defeated St. Edward's 3-1 in the second semifinal on Friday night. The two teams will meet for the LSC Championship at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Sigma Beta Chi Field.
