Goalkeeper Jacob Carruth proved to be the hero as Captain Shreve boys’ soccer team maintained their perfect record in district play and remained unbeaten on their season, but it took a sudden death penalty shoot out to get there. Carruth saved Esteban Guevara’s shot in the 6th round of the shootout to claim the win after a tied 1-1 game through regulation play and two ten-minute periods of overtime.
Bryan Medrano had given Airline (14-8-1, 8-4) a surprise lead just seconds before the half time whistle before Captain Shreve’s Chad Usry tied the game early in the second half. After two uneventful overtime periods it went to penalty kicks where Will Clark for Captain Shreve (18-0-1, 12-0) and Airline’s Nickolas Rizzo were both let off the hook for their misses in the fourth round to take the game into sudden death. Nick Zagzoug blasted his shot into the left corner while Guevara’s shot was placed too close to Carruth, who was able to block the shot.
“I’m proud of my guys for persevering to the end in what turned out to be a hard game. But we maintained our unbeaten district record and now we can carry that into the playoffs,” said Shreve coach Stephen Slack. “We’re working on getting ready for the playoffs and wanted to make sure we maintained a good ranking to avoid a tough opening game, so I’m glad we were able to do that.”
Madrano was busy early in the game and had a chance to give Airline an early lead but scuffed his shot wide of the post as Airline dominated the early play. Captain Shreve, content to play on the counter attack, were restricted mainly to long range shots, but Ecotry Fuller’s long range free kick was the closest they came to breaking the deadline when his shot from just outside the penalty area was saved by Airline’s Collin Jimes. Madrana did make amends for his early miss though when he picked up a rebound off John Luke’s long drive to give the Vikings the lead with just seconds left in the first half.
Usry almost leveled the scores for the Gators in the first minute of the second half when he met Zagzoug’s cross from the right side with a powerful header, but it ended up going just wide of the near post. He too made amends about a minute later when he blasted a shot from 30 yards over the head of Jimes into the top left corner for one of the more spectacular goals of the season. Andrew Doughty probably came closest to giving the Gators a win in regulation when his shot from about 25 yards out went just wide of the right post.
The remainder of regulation was scrappy at best, which took the game into overtime, but there wasn’t much luck to be had there. Both sides were restricted to long range shots, and despite Shreve having the better of the play, they were unable to break the tie.
After each team scored four of their five initial penalty kicks, Zagzoug took care of his end of the bargain in the first sudden death round, while Carruth blocked Guevara’s shot to seal the win.
Byrd girls win title
The Lady Jackets (24-4-1, 12-0) clinched the Division I, District I title on Thursday night with a 3-0 win over Caddo Magnet at Lee Hedges Stadium. Senior midfielder Sarah Donahue scored two goals and senior Abby Inabnet added a third for coach Lisa Levermann’s club.
Assists were provided by Hope Miletello, Kyra Montes and Lindsey Humphrey. Byrd will play Loyola on Monday in a non-district game before finding out who their state playoff opponent will be on Tuesday.
