Jay Co. falls in PKs

MARION — Nine times this season the Patriots suffered shutouts. Late Monday, it was their inability to put the ball in the net that ended their season.
Jay County’s final four attempts in a penalty-kick shootout to decide its sectional quarterfinal girls soccer game against Norwell were either off the mark or rejected by Knights’ goalie Haley Heller. Meanwhile, after failing on its first two attempts, Norwell converted its third and fourth to win the shootout 2-1 for a 1-0 victory.
“Every day last week every single person on the team has taken five (penalty kicks),” said JCHS coach Abby Champ, whose team tied Norwell 1-1 during the regular season. “Those five (who took them tonight) have hit 80 percent of the PKs they’ve taken. It was all nerves.”
The game came down to just five kicks for each team, and the Patriots (3-11-3) took the early advantage. Sophomore Sammi Compton opened the shootout and nailed a line-drive shot past Heller to the right side for the 1-0 lead.
Jay County continued to hold that 1-0 lead until Norwell senior Caitlin Ailor converted on her team’s third attempt with a low shot to the right corner. Freshman Frankie Daizovi gave the Knights (5-9-3) the lead on a grounder to the left side on their next kick, leaving the match up to Nikka Chaney.
On the Patriots’ final attempt Chaney booted a high shot on goal, but Heller was able to punch it over the crossbar to give her team the victory without having to take its last shot.
“I always go second,” said Norwell coach Jon Gates, whose team won the coin toss for the right to choose whether to shoot first or second. “The girls knew that their backs were against the wall. We try to be cool, calm and collected. The girls just didn’t back down.”
After Compton’s shot found the net for the Patriots, Maddie Bailey sent one high, LeAnn Horn had hers punched away by Heller and Mallory Poole also sent one high. Norwell’s first shot from Lauren Johnson was wide left and its second from Kylee Byerly was punched away by JCHS goalie Mollie May before Ailor and Daizovi connected.
The shootout followed 94 minutes of scoreless soccer — 80 in regulation followed by two seven-minute halves of overtime — as both teams struggled to get good looks at the goal.
Jay County’s best opportunities came on a couple of free kicks from just outside the 18-yard box. Chaney took them both, with the first glancing off the upper-left corner of the goal and the second deflected away.
The Patriots also had a chance on a Compton corner kick from the right side late in the opening half. Lexie Myers of Norwell nearly sent the ball into her own net with a header, but Heller made a jumping save to preserve the scoreless tie.
“We crashed the goal really well,” said Champ. “We just couldn’t figure out when (Heller) was going to back up and when she was going to come out. We were always just a half a step off.
“I thought we played really well. We were aggressive. We were beating them to the ball.
“They really wanted this game badly.”
Norwell had its opportunities as well, with May (six saves) rejecting a host of shots from Johnson. She came up with a key kick save near the right post on a shot by Tasia DeLeon with 7:32 left in regulation.
Gates said he was happy with his team’s effort throughout.
“We have a real bad reputation of coming out sluggish,” he said. “I thought we came out really strong. The second half it was sheer determination.
“We just played this one from the heart.”[[In-content Ad]]