GOSHEN - The Warsaw girls soccer team decided to add some unneeded drama to the first semifinal game of Bethany Christian Sectional Thursday.
Leading 2-0 with 15 minutes to play, the Lady Tigers allowed the Westview Lady Warriors to creep back into the match, forcing overtime. Following a pair of seven-minute overtime periods, the match went into a penalty kick shootout, which Warsaw won 3-2, giving the Tigers the match by a score of 3-2."We do penalty kicks all the time (in practice), particularly these last two weeks," Warsaw coach Dan Miller said. "We've been doing all types of penalty-kick games to get ready for this exact situation. Obviously, you want your shooters to be ready, but your goalkeeper too. (Junior Dee Monroy) did well."
In PKs, Warsaw senior Brittany Enyeart started things off by scoring, while Westview's first two girls missed.
Down 1-0 after the first two girls from each team shot, Westview's Kelsey Christner and Jeslyn Zimmerly each converted their attempts, while Warsaw's Janelle Sproul and Kelly Wildman did as well, giving the Lady Tigers a 3-2 lead with the final kickers approaching the goal.
First, Warsaw's Samantha Dawson had her shot stopped by Westview freshman goalkeeper Stephenie Hochstetler on a dive to her left.
That left the door open for the Lady Warriors' freshman Michelle Mowery to tie the shootout, therefore forcing a PK sudden death, but her shot hit the crossbar, and came straight down, giving the Tigers the win.
"That's why people come to these games," Miller said. "It was awesome."
The win avenges a 2-0 Lady Tigers' loss to the Lady Warriors in the opening round of last year's sectional, and pits them in a 7 p.m. championship match with Bethany Christian Lady Bruins Saturday.
"It was definitely something we'd talked about," Miller said of last year's loss. "At one point in practice, I asked how many girls played in the game last year. So, it was definitely motivation for today. It's sectional time, and these girls are hungry for a sectional title. That's what our goal is."
A sectional title would be Warsaw's first since 2003, when the Tigers defeated Bethany 1-0. Warsaw also claimed the 2002 sectional crown, once again defeating Bethany, only that time by a 2-0 count.
Prior to worrying about winning this year's title, Warsaw first had to deal with the sectional's defending champions, the Lady Warriors, and in the first half, it didn't seem like either team was too eager to take control.
Through the first 40 minutes, the only scoring attempts came from Westview with two shots on goal, but Monroy stopped one, while the other bounced off the crossbar with 8:23 remaining.
"We just didn't get breaks," Westview coach Chuck Christner said. "We had a couple balls that could have just as easily gone in, and they didn't."
Coupled with the shot off the crossbar in the shootout, Miller was counting his blessings after the win.
"We did get fortunate a couple of times," Miller said.
In the second half, the action picked up, and Warsaw sophomore Hannah Cutshall scored off an assist from junior Samantha Dawson with 33:21 to play, then passed the ball ahead to freshman Meredith Hollar for a breakaway goal with 15 minutes remaining.
Cutshall missed the Lady Tigers' regular-season finale, and was used sparingly in Warsaw's first-round win over West Noble as she recovered from an injury. Once back on the field, she made her presence felt.
"The goal was to be ready tonight for Westview," Miller said. "She is our sophomore and tied with Meredith for goals this year. Well, Meredith may be up by one now."
Just when the Tigers began feeling comfortable, Westview's Lauren Stutzman scored on a rebound with 12:08 remaining and Olivia Fought netted a goal with just three minutes remaining.
"They kicked it into another gear," Christner said. "I'm just really proud of them. They came back from 2-0 on a cold, frigid night, and I think that's just tremendous."
"Credit (Westview) for their response, but at the same time, I think we went into a little bit of a defensive shell," Miller said. "They made us pay. They have a lot of great, quality players that have a great record and they have a lot seniors and good leadership."
After fighting back in regulation, those seniors had their season end in an exciting way.
"It's just incredibly exciting to be a part of this," Christner said. "It's an exciting match. You hate to be on the losing side of things, and that's very disappointing, but with a couple more inches, we'd have kept going. It's just exciting stuff for the girls. Something they'll remember."
