Spartans beat Central in shootout; advance to sectional finals

Brookfield Central couldn't cash in on several chances to score Thursday night at home, so an underdog Brookfield East team took the Lancers through two overtimes and won a 4-2 shootout to advance to Saturday's sectional finals, one game away from the state tournament.

The Lancers missed two decent scoring chances in the first half and the match was scoreless at halftime.

The Lancers best chance to score came at the 69 minute mark when Sarah Baker kicked a great lead pass to Bella Turelli, who zoned in on the ball as East freshman goalkeeper Rachel Novak raced to cut down the angle and then made an amazing save to knock the ball away to the left about 10 yards in front of the net.

Central goalkeeper Rachel Oleson made a good save with 3:41 into the first overtime and then East missed a shot in the final seconds. Central then missed two more shots in the second overtime sending the game into a shootout.

Baker made her first shot for the Lancers, but Lauren Knudson tied it for East. Lydia Rohde scored the second goal for Central but East's Kellie Goodman countered.

Then the turning point of the shootout came when Morgan Kenny kicked the ball over the top of the net and East's Jackie Wandt drilled in a shot to give East a 3-2 lead. BC's Sierra High then drilled a shot to Novak's left and the 5-foot-5 inch freshman made a great save.

When Shannon Cashion stepped up and drilled in a shot into the left net, East (7-9-4) pulled off a huge upset over Central (17-5-2).

The Spartans will now face a heavily-favored DSHA (16-4-2), which nipped Wauwatosa East 1-0 in overtime, on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Central.

The Dashers whipped East, 4-1, in their first meeting.

The Spartans lost star senior Taylor Swittel with an arm injury in the first half.