It is like the Gunfight at the OK Coral without the bullets - one goalkeeper, one close-range shooter and way too much net to cover. After playing your heart out in a double overtime tie, it is a lousy way to lose a game and a dramatic way to win one.
Brookfield Central saw its season come to an end Friday when the Lady Lancers held powerful Divine Savior Holy Angels to one goal in the WIAA Girls State Soccer Tournament at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee.
The game was a 1-1 tie in regulation and two overtimes, but someone has to advance - and that is where all the hard work of 100 minutes goes right out the window for the losers.
After a coin-flip to decide which team shoots first, the first player comes out and lines up 12 feet away from the goalkeeper, and the referee spots the ball. The referee asks the goalkeeper if she is ready and when she signals 'yes,' he blows the whistle and the shooter must kick the ball.
The goalkeeper stands in the goal, defending a territory that is 17 feet wide and 7 feet high. If you ever get a chance, stand in that area once and see what an impossible job that is with the shooter only 12 feet away.
After the Lady Lancers beat Brookfield East in a shootout a few weeks ago, I asked Central goalkeeper Katie Heil if she felt tremendous pressure in that situation. Her answer surprised me.
"I don't think so," the bubbly junior said. "In my opinion, the pressure is on the shooter. They are supposed to make the goal. If a goalie stops one, everyone is surprised."
The rule states teams take turns kicking from the penalty mark in an attempt to score a goal, until each has taken five kicks. However, if one side has scored more goals than the other could possibly reach with all of their remaining kicks, the shootout ends regardless of the number of kicks remaining.
In the shootout Friday, the Dashers scored on Rachel Koontz's shot, which went high into the net. Central tied it on Heather Reichert's goal into the left corner. Julia Wilson scored for DSHA with a shot into the left corner, and Ashley Hirsch countered for Central with a low shot into the left corner.
See a pattern here?
DSHA's Katie Stoiber then missed a shot to the left of the net, giving Central a chance to take the lead. But Kristin Becker followed Stoiber's lead and also missed a shot outside the left post.
At that point I had a sinking feeling for the Lancers.
DSHA's Lauren Handzlik drilled a shot into the right corner for a 3-2 lead and after Gina Scaffidi drilled a shot off the left post, the Dashers Kylie Nordness put her team in the playoffs with the winning goal.
I now understood what Katie Heil was talking about.
The Lady Lancers played their hearts out, but the Dashers dominated in the second half. The Central defense was good, but Heil was brilliant - jumping, diving, knocking down and grabbing everything she could. She finished with 17 saves. That was more saves than she usually has in a week.
Walking out of the park afterward, someone mentioned that she had that many saves and someone responded, 'That's her job.'
Then she did it well.
Tom "Sky" Skibosh can be reached at (262) 446-6620. Read Sky's blog at BrookfieldNOW.com.
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