Bears beat Northampton in PKs

The game took 80 minutes of regulation play, two 15-minute overtimes and five shootout penalty kicks before a winner was decided.

Mirza Sabovic’s shootout goal ended the marathon and gave Pleasant Valley a 5-4 win over on Tuesday Northampton in an Eastern Penn Conference quarterfinal boys’ soccer game.

The matchup featured schools with excellent team speed. The fourth-seeded Bears (14-3-1) dominated play and field position in the first half as they held the fifth-seeded Konkrete Kids to no shots on goal.

With just three minutes off the clock, PV’s Zion Moore ripped a shot off the crossbar. He would come close again with under 25 minutes to go in the half, but was stymied by Northampton goalkeeper, Brady Rimple.

Northampton (11-4-4) came out and moved the ball up the field in the second half. After Rimple stopped a header by Sabovic at the 35-minute mark, Dalton Domchek’s side-angle shot from the right side of the goal was stuffed by PV net minder Chris Price, but the clock struck zero with no points on the board for either team.

“This was our first time seeing Northampton,” said PV coach Alex Wunder. “We just tried to play to our strength and work harder than them.”

During the first overtime, Moore fired a point-blank shot that flicked off of Rimple’s hands as he leaped as high as he could. With seven minutes to go, Price made a diving save on a bullet kick by the Kids’ Alexander Mello. Then with two minutes left, Rimple stuffed Matthew Erhardt in front of the goal. Moore’s attempt with 10 seconds left brought a gasp from the crowd as it just missed finding the left-hand corner.

“We knew we had to limit Moore’s chances,” said Northampton coach Adam Bastidas. “I preach to my players to respect their opponent and to know what they like to do. Pleasant Valley likes to build their momentum off of him, but we were able to keep him off the board.”

In the second OT, Mello nearly ended the game with a direct header for Northampton, but Prtice was up to the task. With three minutes left, Moore blasted a cannon shot that Rimple was again able to tip away with his fingertips. As the clock ticked to 20 seconds, the Kids’ Russell King was thwarted by Price and the game was sent into a shootout.

“Our strategy is to find our midfielders with the ball, move side to side up the field. We carried the play in the overtimes. The game turned into a track meet as both teams looked for the game winner.”

The shootout had five designated penalty kickers from each team. Northampton’s Jonathan Stier tried to beat Price to his right side, but the Bears’ junior made a spectacular diving save. Goals were then scored by PV’s Jake Alles, Northampton’s Dalton Domchak, PV’s Ehrhardt, Northampton’s King, PV’s Timothy Covart, and Northampton’s Dylan Domchak.

Since Price had stopped the first PK, the Bears’ Sabovic lined up to attempt the game -winner.

“Coach picks the first three shooters, but I told him I want to go last,” said Sabovic. “I was nervous, but as soon as I kicked it, I knew it was going in the net.”

“I think Pleasant Valley was happy to get to a shootout because we had the momentum in overtime,” said Bastidas.

“It’s just the nature of the game,” said Wunder. “You can dominate play, but not score and then anything can happen in a shootout. We practiced our PKs all week, and I told our team that to win this game, we had to go five-for-five, and that’s just what we did.”

THE EYES HAVE IT ... On the approach of his game-winning kick, Sabovic said he saw the goalkeeper’s eyes look to the left, so he shot to the other side and hit nothing but net.

GOLDEN GOALKEEPERS ... Both netminders made spectacular saves to keep the game scoreless. Northampton’s Rimple saved seven shots on goal, while PV’s Price stopped five, most of which were sudden death overtime attempts.