Tom fedor/the gazette
Tuscarora's Jaime Ramirez celebrates after converting the final penalty kick to lift the Titans to victory in during Thursday's Class 3A state final against Fallston.
|
In the first year of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association deciding that the state soccer championships won't end in ties, four of the eight champions between the boys and girls tournaments earned titles with penalty kicks.
This included Tuscarora High boys 2-1 win over Harford County's Fallston on Thursday. The Titans won its shootout 4-2 shootout to clinch its first-ever Class 3A State championship on Thursday at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
For the Titans, it was just business as usual, with Sean Duggan, Quinn Meehan, Ritchie Reyes and Jaime Ramirez going a perfect 4-for-4 while goalie Mitch Kelman held up his end of the bargain.
"I had confidence in myself, and I had confidence that every person would make their PK," Kelman said.
Ramirez is starting to become an expert at winning playoff games by shootout, after also making the game-winner against Kennedy in the West Region semifinal.
Against Fallston, Ramirez's shot went low and to the right, hitting the post. It bounced hard, but back and to the left. He admitted that he initially thought he missed the shot.
"For a second, I did," Ramirez said. "But then I saw it was good. It feels great."
The two teams were tied 1-1 after regulation. Michael Greene scored early for Tuscarora. But a penalty kick from the Cougars' Dominic Welsh with 16 minutes and 11 seconds left in the first half evened things up. The two squads held each other at a standstill for the next 76 minutes of play, including two golden goal overtimes.
With 3 minutes and 20 seconds left in regulation play, the Titans (10-6-2) almost shut the game down when Reyes unloaded a spinning shot towards the opposite post, catching Fallston goalie Kirk Fromille on the other side. The only problem with the shot is that it went straight into Kevin Ruzbacki, Reyes' teammate.
In the shootout, Fallston attacked first, with Welsh getting his team an early 1-0 lead. Duggan then immediately tied it back up. He used a stutter-step approach before going to the low right corner. The stutter-step is tricky, as it can tip off the goalie to the attack.
"My favorite player, [Portuguese national player] Cristiano Ronaldo does it, so I just copied him," Duggan said.
In the second round of shots, Fallston's Eric Croucher almost had his shot blocked out by Kelman.
"I got most of my fingers," Kelman said. "I should have punched it, it wouldn't have gone back into the goal."
Kelman didn't let it get him down, though, and the next two Fallston shots were misses.
Tuscarora pounced onto the advantage, with Meehan tying the game up with a shot to the right. Reyes was the first shooter to go to the left, and the Fallston goalie froze up while initially lurching against a shot to the right.
The order of attack was the same one used against Kennedy. While penalty kicks aren't used in the regular season, Tuscarora head coach Marty Stiteler spent some time in practice working on them.
"The first time it happened, against Kennedy, I kind of just looked at everyone around, and everyone just had this look," Stiteler said.
"I just [pointed and]went one-two-three-four-five. And each time it's only gone to four. There was no way we were going to change what we were doing."
