Between last week's regional semifinals and Saturday night's semisate championship game, Warsaw's boys soccer team has been on both ends of a season-ending penalty kick shootout. Nine days after winning a thrilling shootout over Concord in the Class 2A Mishawaka Regional, the fifth-ranked Tigers saw their season end with a heart-breaking shootout loss to unranked Crown Point in the final game of the Warsaw Semistate. Warsaw and Crown Point were scoreless after 80 minutes of regulation and 14 minutes of overtime before the Bulldogs won the shootout 5-3, claiming a 1-0 win and a berth in Saturday's state championship game at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis. Not only did Crown Point goalkeeper Christian Lomeli stop all six of Warsaw's shots on goal during the 94 minutes of action, he made the winning kick in the shootout, just as he did in the morning game against No. 13 Noblesville. "At the end of the day, they did more to win this match than we did," said Warsaw coach Scott Bauer, whose team beat No. 15 Carroll 2-0 in a semifinal game earlier in the day. "My understanding is, their keeper (Lomeli) is a late transfer, and he played for the Chicago Fire in a developmental league. He is a quality keeper, and he has made the difference for these guys in their season. His ability to play as high as he does takes a lot of pressure off the defense." Zach Sneiderwine, Carmelo Morales, Bay Kurtz, Alex Fenn and Lomeli converted PKs for the Bulldogs, while Corey Lopez, Xavier Arellanes and Andros Gonzalez did so for for the Tigers. Lomeli, who didn't play for Crown Point until the regional a week ago, made a diving save on Jose Rodriguez's PK, and then put his own kick past Warsaw keeper David Johnson to seal the deal. Crown Point improved to 15-6-2 and will play Columbus North in the state finals. Columbus North (18-2-2) advanced by winning the North Central Semistate 2-1 over No. 6 Avon. Warsaw finished the season with an 18-4-1 record. The other three teams Warsaw lost to this season - Fort Wayne Canterbury, Bethany Christian and Carroll - were also playing in a semistate Saturday. Canterbury, ranked No. 1 in 1A, advanced to state. "Our expectations were pretty high for this year, and we fell one match short of where I thought we would be," said Bauer, whose team advanced to the state finals last year. As it was, the Tigers were the only team to score a goal in the Warsaw Semistate, yet on a day when defense was the name of the game, their season ended. Had Warsaw won the semisate, the Tigers still would have suffered a loss in that Rodriguez would not have been able to play in the state championship game. The talented senior, who was a first-team All-State selection a year ago, got a yellow card against Crown Point. It was Rodriguez's second yellow card of the tournament. Under IHSAA rules, issued yellow cards in the start tournament accumulate, and if a player gets a second, he must sit out the next game. Rodriguez, who didn't have a yellow card all season until the tournament, got his first in the sectional for celebrating a goal. Bauer said he was proud of the way Rodriguez continued to play hard and try and help his teammates win, even when he knew he wouldn't be allowed to play in the state finals, the last match of his senior season, if his team won. "For him to come back and still play with the effort that he did was a credit to him," Bauer said of Rodriguez. "He was heartbroken, and so were the guys on this team. That was Jose's first foul, and it is unbelievable that the official would do that. I am almost glad I'm not going down to state without Jose because it would have just killed the kid because he has worked so hard." The Tigers were already playing without two starters – junior Diego Lopez and senior Lake Price, both of whom were sidelined with knee injuries. Baur called the yellow card rule the cruelest rule in high school sports, and said that it was a travesty. "The two yellow card rule in the postseason is an absolute travesty," said Bauer. "A kid like Jose goes the whole regular season with a yellow, then picks one up in the sectional for celebration. And then, an official pulls one out in the semistate championship for Jose's first foul, breaking his heart and the heart of my team. There is something seriously wrong that needs fixed. I believe Crown Point lost a kid to two yellows as well and will miss the state finals. My heart goes out to him, but if we had made it through, I couldn not have beared the pain and disappointment of a kid (Jose) who has worked and dreamed his whole life of playing for a state championship to see it snatched away by the cruelest rule on kids in high school sports." Rodriguez is a big part of a very special senior class, a class that was part of four regional championships. Rodriguez is the program's all-time leader in assists, while Corey Lopez holds the school's career record for goals and Johnson the state record for shutouts. "They own every school record, assists, goals, shutouts," Bauer said of Rodriguez, Corey Lopez and Johnson. "They're going to be missed. They were contributing when they were freshman. This entire senior class is going to be missed." Corey Lopez scored his 29th goal of the season and 85th of his career in the 2-0 win over Carroll. Senior Andros Gonzalez scored the other goal for the Tigers. Other seniors on the team include Brantley Davis, Xavier Arrellanes and Jared Stout.
WARSAW SEMISTATE (championship) CROWN POINT 1, WARSAW 0 Note – Crown Point won in shootout Shots on goal - Warsaw 6, Crown Point 4; Saves – David Johnson (Warsaw) 4, Christian Lomeli (Crown Point) 6; Corner kicks – Warsaw 0, Crown Point 7; Fouls – Warsaw 12, Crown Point 10; Yellow cards – Jose Rodriguez (Warsaw), Warsaw bench (twice), Martin Mitreski (Crown Point), Nyle Randolph (Crown Point); Records: Warsaw 18-4-1, Crown Point 15-6-2
