Speedway edges GHS on penalty kicks

Friday, September 25, 2009
Greencastle senior David Cath readies to send the ball to the middle during Thursday's contest with Speedway.

GREENCASTLE -- With a steady rain that continued throughout the contest, the Greencastle boys' soccer team hosted undefeated Speedway Thursday and played the Sparkplugs to a 0-0 tie after regulation. The contest ultimately came down to penalty kicks, where Speedway edged the Tiger Cubs 2-0 for the win.

"I thought it might come down to overtime and penalty kicks. We worked on penalty kicks, but I don't know what happened there. It wasn't our best effort on the penalty kicks, having battled with them for the two full halves and the overtime," GHS head coach Dave Lilly said.

The match between the two schools is always a heated battle. On Thursday, seven yellow cards and one red card were issued during the contest.

Billed before the game as "The Wall", keeper Kyle Parker more than lived up to his moniker.

The Tiger Cubs were only able to get one shot on goal in the first half, opposed to the Sparkplugs 15 shots. Overall in the game, Speedway recorded 28 shots on goal, with none finding the net.

It was the second half where Greencastle began to pressure Speedway and make some headway. The Sparkplugs found themselves on their heels in the second period, with GHS firing off six shots on goal.

It looked that as the match progressed, Speedway began to lose some of its steam and the Tiger Cubs were quick to pounce. They attacked the goal and had numerous opportunities that slid wide or caught a piece of the goal, but never trickled inside.

Both teams made a push at the end, but after 80 minutes, the game stormed into overtime.

"You have to give credit to them," Lilly commented. "They're a good team, but our defense held. It took that penalty kick situation for them to win and it's disappointing. I thought we were going to get them toward the end of regulation. They really, I thought, were getting tired and we had some really good chances."

After the two seven minutes overtime periods, it all came down penalty kicks.

Josh Bonebrake and Cody Watson were unable to find the net on Greencastle's first two PKs and watched as Ryan Rosebrough knock one past Parker. Brandon Query blasted a shot that careened off the crossbar for the Tiger Cubs, and then Jake Daghe connected on the Sparkplugs third penalty kick, giving his team a 2-0 advantage.

Greencastle had one final chance, but the Sparkplug keeper blocked Spencer Moore's shot to preserve the win.

Lilly spoke following the contest that both teams had some chances, but was pleased with the effort of his keeper.

"They had some good chances too," Lilly commented. "Parker was huge in there keeping us in the game. He definitely made better saves than they did on their end. Both teams had chances to win it through the whole thing. Fittingly, it came down to PKs; it's just unfortunate that they delivered and they didn't."

Lilly also commented that now it's time to focus on their next foe, Terre Haute North and, despite the loss, still believes they have a good chance at sectional.

Greencastle will face Terre Haute North Tuesday at 7 p.m.

At Greencastle

Speedway 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Greencastle 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Penalty Kicks

SPHS -- Ryan Rosebrough

SPHS -- Jake Daghe

Next match -- Greencastle will face Terre Haute North Tuesday at 7 p.m.