Before the season started, McClellan told head coach Josh Fowler that he hoped that a game never came down to penalty kicks. Although McClellan was a senior, this is his first year in the net for the Cardinals. This is his first year playing soccer for the Cardinals at all.
As for the penalty kicks, his wish didn’t come true. The “rookie” had to deal with penalty kicks en route to a dramatic overtime victory for the Cardinals over Brashier Middle College.
The Cardinals led 2-0 at the half on goals by Kaleb Gunther and Jon Perry, but the Bengals evened it up in the second half. Brashiers got goals from Seth Howell and Jaedon Williamson to send the match into overtime.
Neither team scored in the first or second overtime, which opened the door for McClellan to get his first experience with overtime penalty kicks.
On Tuesday, the Cardinals and Woodruff went into two overtimes, but a late score by the Wolverines ended the match just before penalty kicks.
“That was rough,” McClellan said. “I took that to heart.”
The first round of penalty kicks left the Bengals and Cardinals in a tie. Not only was McClellan dealing with penalty kicks, it now came down to sudden death penalty kicks. When one team missed and the other made it, the game was over.
Prather’s shot proved to be the winner after a Bengal miss.
For Fowler, this match showed the heart of his team. The Cardinals were coming off the double-overtime loss to Woodruff on Tuesday and a 3-0 shutout victory over Southside on Wednesday. This game was the cap of a three-game stretch that left his team spent.
“We were running on empty,” Fowler said. “It took a lot of guts and energy to pull this one out. This team has a lot of heart and soul.”
GIRLS
Brashiers 9, Landrum 1
Brashiers jumped on Landrum from the start. Alex Leopold scored a goal 30 seconds in and the Lady Bengals didn’t look back en route to a 9-1 victory. Sierra Singh led the charge with three goals. Leopold, Hannah Schoening and Monica Coelho each scored two goals.
The Lady Cardinals just couldn’t get it going. They came out stronger in the second half after falling behind 5-0 in the first half. Brashiers scored their final four goals late in the second half. Landrum’s only goal came from Claire Walters in the second half.