By Kyle WannenSpecial to DigitalSports
It’s often said that history is doomed to repeat itself. The O’Connell boys soccer team could not agree more after it defeated DeMatha, 5-4 in penalty kicks, in the WCAC semifinals Friday.
The Knights had faced DeMatha twice in the regular season and came away with two scoreless ties against the high–powered Stags. The two teams also tied in both their games last season. The last time the two teams didn’t finish in a tie was in the 2006 WCAC quarterfinals when the Knights defeated DeMatha 6-5 in penalty kicks.
Both times this season, the Knights chose to play extremely tight defense against the Stags in order to shut down their potent offense, but on Friday the Knights decided to go on the offensive.
“Instead of sticking to just defensive stuff today, we knew we had success in counterattacking and we took every opportunity to counterattack and that kept us in the game through regulation and overtime,”
O’Connell Coach Chuck Laporte said.
O’Connell lined up in a 3-5-2, moving a pair of players from the back line to the midfield, a move that
DeMatha Coach Dafydd Evans commended.
“They surprised us with the way they lined up,” Evans said. “They stuck in there and were determined and worked hard and because of their effort they deserved to go to penalties.”
Both teams played tightly in the first half and limited the amount of scoring chances. The best came last in the half when Stags forward
Chris Hegngi sent a crossing pass into the box that almost went into the goal but clanged off the crossbar and out of bounds.
After halftime, both teams made adjustments and the Stags almost scored again when midfielder
Jasim Mobaidin sent a shot toward the goal but it was punched away by Knights goalkeeper
Alex Harrington. Later in the half, O’Connell got a scoring chance but the shot was kicked away by defender
Cody Pearson. The teams remained tied through the end of regulation.
“We expected it to be a tough game coming in, but we played them tough two times in a row, 0-0, and honestly we just stuck with it,” said Harrington. “We wanted to see what we could do and we shut down their offense for the whole game.”
Neither team had any scoring chances in both overtime periods so the game moved to penalty kicks. Both teams made their first four penalty kicks before DeMatha’s fifth attempt went over the crossbar. Then Knights forward
Reardon Nolan laced his shot into the right side of the net for the difference.
“I was nervous,” Nolan said. “I didn’t know where to shoot and I just kind of free-balled it.”
The victory sends O’Connell to Sunday’s WCAC championship, where the Knights will face Gonzaga.
“They’re an excellent, excellent team,” Laporte said. “They’re the Full Monty and we have our work cut out for us.”
