Drama queens

YORKTOWN — The Patriots would much rather advance with a nice, boring multi-goal victory. They just can’t seem to avoid tournament drama.
Jay County fell behind twice Tuesday and needed a goal on a Catherine Dunn penalty kick just to force overtime. Alex Loy then gave the Patriots the game-winning goal as JCHS edged the Muncie Central Bearcats in the opening round of the Class 2A Sectional 15 girls soccer tournament at Yorktown Sports Park.
“Oh my gosh,” said JCHS coach Abby Champ. “It’s nerve-wracking. We’ll take a win. (Winning in overtime) is always better than going to (penalty kicks). We’d like to do it in regulation.
“But you know what, a win is a win. I’m not going to complain.”
The game marked the sixth straight season in which the Patriots have had a sectional game decided in the final three minutes or later. JCHS lost 2-1 to Marion in overtime in 2007; fell 1-0 in a penalty-kick shootout to Eastern in ’08; topped South Adams 3-2 in sudden-death penalty kicks in ’09; and lost 1-0 to Norwell in a penalty-kick shootout in 2010.
Tuesday marked their second consecutive dramatic sectional win over Muncie Central after Sammi Compton scored the game-winning goal with just 2:26 in last season’s 4-3, opening-round victory.
“It’s hard to lose,” said despondent Central coach Amanda Guess.
JCHS (9-6-1) trailed 3-2 with time fading away in the second half before Andrea Bruggeman pushed the ball deep into the right corner. She sent a pass to Loy along the end line, where a pair of Bearcat defenders met the junior.
Loy was knocked down in the battle for the ball, drawing a foul that resulted in a penalty kick. Dunn cashed in on the opportunity, hitting a shot past Central goalie Samantha Bartholome to the right corner with 7:17 remaining.
That goal set the stage for Dunn and Loy to team up again in overtime.
Three minutes into the first of two seven-minute overtime periods, Bartholome deflected a Jay County shot toward the left post. Dunn and Bartholome reached the loose ball at the same time, with Dunn getting enough of the ball to send it back in front of the goal. Loy was on the spot to knock it into the open net for her second goal of the night.
“The goalie kicked it out and (Dunn) went there and passed it to me and we had an open goal and I kicked it in,” said Loy, who did not score a goal during the regular season. “It felt awesome.
“We just kept pushing through. We had some bad times, but then we just pushed through and got the good times back.”
The Patriots and Central (6-9) went back-and-forth all night, with Loy scoring the opening goal after juking past defender Madelyn Beaver less than nine minutes into the game. Jessica Rowe tied the game on a 25-yard shot less than two minutes later, and the Bearcats took the lead when Junko Niharu scored on a header off of a pass from Maggie Byrnes with just 2:02 left in the opening half.
Dunn pulled Jay County even when she scored on a breakaway just 4:33 into the second half, and Rowe gave the Bearcats the advantage again with 27:13 remaining.
“We knew Jessica Rowe was just going to stand out and pound the ball,” said Champ. “We knew she was capable of that. … She had two phenomenal goals.”
The score remained 3-2 in Central’s favor for nearly 20 minutes before Dunn’s goal on the penalty kick evened the game and eventually forced overtime.
The Bearcats made a couple of late runs at the net after Loy gave JCHS the lead, but were unable to pull even again to force a penalty-kick shootout. Rowe took a shot as the final seconds ticked away, but Brooke Reynard made her 11th save of the night as the buzzer sounded.
Gabbie Mann, Dunn and Loy each took three shots on goal for the Patriots, who advance to play Muncie Southside in the semifinal round at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Guess said the biggest difference for her team, which lost 2-0 to Jay County in Thursday’s regular-season meeting, was the return of Bartholome from a concussion.
“She brings a whole completely different dynamic to our team,” said Guess. “That puts Madelyn Beaver back at sweeper, and then we can push somebody else up.
“And the girls wanted it. They had tons of heart today. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”[[In-content Ad]]