Soccer should not be decided by PKs

There has to be a better way.
Soccer games should not be decided by penalty kicks.
Tuesday, the Jay County High School girls soccer team lost in the sectional semifinal to the host Yorktown Tigers on penalty kicks.
Yorktown keeper Brynmar Rees stopped three of the Patriots’ four attempts.
The Tigers turned around and scored on three of their four shots.
Game over. Yorktown moves on, Jay County goes home licking its wounds.
Last season, Jay County’s boys team lost in the sectional championship game in the same fashion.
Then-Patriot goalkeeper Jason Schlosser thought he had the stop, that Yorktown senior Ben Conte’s penalty kick that hit the crossbar was enough to keep the game tied.
Instead, it caromed off the square post, hit Schlosser in the back and rolled past the goal line for the game-winner.
Two years ago, the Patriot girls had their season extended by coming out on the winning end of a sectional semifinal game that came down to PKs.
Lilly Rogers did what a good goalie should — read the hips of the shooter to see where the ball was going and react accordingly.
It put the Patriots into the final, and they eventually went on to win their second of back-to-back sectional titles.
But there has to be a better way. After more than an hour and a half of play, a soccer game should not come down to penalty kicks.
Imagine this: it’s the basketball sectional championship. Jay County and (insert opponent here) are tied after regulation. Then, after two overtime periods neither team is ahead on the scoreboard. Rather than going to a third overtime, each team selects five players to shoot a single free throw.
It’s just not sensible.
How about baseball (or softball)? After playing 14 innings the game is still tied. Instead of going to the 15th, the team switches to a home run derby.
It doesn’t make sense.
Free throws, home runs and even penalty kicks, are part of their respective sports. But games should never be decided by those plays. It puts unnecessary pressure on the individual in what is a team sport.
So here’s a solution, which has been a consensus among a few people I’ve talked to since the Jay County girls lost on Tuesday.
In soccer, there is no “golden goal” in the two 7-minute overtime periods.
Change it.
After regulation, the first team to score wins. Goals can be hard to come by, and no one wants overtime to last an additional hour or more. But there’s a solution to that issue too.
Like the NHL does with its overtime, take players off the field. After an arbitrary amount of time — five minutes for example — each team loses a player. It opens up the field and can create more scoring opportunities.
After 25 minutes, rather than 11 players per team, each squad would have six. 
Players can be substituted as normal, so as to keep a steady rotation of fresh legs on the field.
Think of the space it will create, as well as the increased scoring chances. Goalkeepers will finally get action they may not have had otherwise.
No more pressure on an individual shooter. 
A sophomore goalkeeper — starting for just the second time — won’t be thrust into a position with which he or she is not prepared.
It will lead to fast, exciting soccer — not penalty kicks — deciding the winner.