Rogers came up big to seal win

Editor’s note: In more than six years, sports editor Chris Schanz has seen his fair share of athletic contests. Some stick out more than others. In this “Greatest Games” series, he will reminisce about some of the games he’ll never forget.

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Goalkeepers have a tough job.

They’re tasked with preventing the ball from going into a large area.

For example, the area of a soccer ball is approximately 235.61 square inches, equivalent to 1.67 square feet.

A regulation soccer goal is 24 feet wide and 8 feet high, meaning its area is 192 square feet. Therefore, a soccer goal is almost 115 times larger than a soccer ball.

Tough job for a keeper, right?

For a goalkeeper to be successful, it comes down to a couple things: angles, anticipation and being able to read a shooter.

Lilly Rogers knew her angles. She was keen at being far enough away from the goal line to not give opposing players so much room to shoot at her goal. She was solid at anticipating what the other team was going to do, a lot of that had to do with her ability to read plays as they were happening. And she was rarely fooled by opposing shooters.

All of those were on display the cold Tuesday evening of Oct. 8, 2014, in the Class 2A sectional semifinal against the Delta Eagles at Yorktown Sports Park.

Just 30 seconds into the game — Jay County High School’s girls squad was defending the program’s first sectional title — Gabbie Mann scored her 29th goal of the season to put Jay County on top, 1-0.

Four minutes into the second half, Delta netted the equalizer on a play in which Rogers’ arms just weren’t long enough to stop the shot.

Tensions were high in the win-or-go-home game. The Patriots and Eagles weren’t able to score during the final 36 minutes of regulation, and the contest went into extra time.

Jay County dominated the first seven-minute extra period, but it wasn’t able to score. The second extra frame was again tilted in the Patriots’ favor, but still no goal was scored.

Rogers, who had 14 saves during regulation, did not face a shot from Delta in the 14 minutes of extra time.

A berth in the sectional championship game was going to come down to penalty kicks, a time when the goalkeeper is left all but high and dry. The spot for penalty kicks is just 12 yards away from the goal line.

I’d guess Rogers was about 5 feet, 10 inches tall during her sophomore year in 2014. With her arms extended straight above her head, let’s assume she has a reach of 94 inches. Therefore, Rogers would take up approximately 19 square feet of space in the goal.

Remember, the area of a goal is 192 square feet. Throw Rogers on the goal line that leaves 173 square feet of space for the ball to go; still about 103 times larger than the area of a soccer ball.

It’s almost unfair for the keeper. But that’s where those angles, anticipation and reading players comes in for the person standing between the pipes.

Jay County and Delta traded scores through the first two rounds of PKs, with Catherine Dunn and Mariah Bailey scoring for the Patriots. Kyndall Pursley and Delaney McCaslin notched goals for Delta.

Alli Ruiz beat McCaslin, Delta’s keeper, in the third round, and Rogers turned away Angie Naaman’s attempt as Jay County took a 3-2 advantage.

McCaslin then stopped Carmen Lopez, and Morgan Sizemore beat Rogers to tie it 3-3 after four rounds.

Mann came through for JCHS, going to the right side of the net to beat McCaslin.

A stop from Rogers on the next Delta attempt and the Patriots would advance to defend their championship. An Eagle goal would send it to extra PK rounds.

Bailee Allen tried to go high. Rogers jumped to make the stop, then knocked the ball away with her right hand to ensure it wouldn’t cross the goal line, securing Jay County’s 2-1 (4-3 PK) semifinal victory to set up a rematch with Yorktown in the final four days later.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Rogers said after making her save. “I don’t know how I did it, but I’m really glad I did.”

Rogers added that she knew what Allen was going to do, she just had to execute.

“The first (save) I was just thinking I was going to have to watch her hips to know where she goes,” she said. “The second one gave it away with her eyes which way she was going. I just had to jump to get it.”

Rogers read her the shooter. She anticipated what was going to happen. She made the stop.

“I (said) at the beginning of the year she’s one of the best,” Giles Laux, who at the time was in his first year leading the Patriots, said. “Every game she gets better and better. She made two tremendous stops.”

Rogers highlighted a great game. The following Saturday was great for other reasons.