Cosmos on brink of first crown
Toolbox
By POODY WALSH Herald Correspondent - Published: November 5, 2009
SPRINGFIELD — When Springfield began preparing for the 2009 soccer season they started practicing penalty kicks right away and on Wednesday afternoon made all five of their attempts and earned their way to the Division II state championship with a 1-1 (5-4 penalty kicks) win over U-32 at Gurney field.
"Those were not lucky shots," said U-32 coach Joe Ferrada. "Those kids knew what they were doing."
The victory sends the top-seeded, 14-2-0 Cosmos to the championship game on Saturday in a 1 p.m. match at Randolph High School against seventh-seeded, 9-6-1 Missisquoi. The Cosmos have never won a soccer championship and last made the finals in 2005, losing to U-32.
The Raiders not only won the title in 2005, they also were Division II champions in 2006 and 2008 and entered yesterday's match as the fourth seed. They finished 12-3-1.
"We had a lot of opportunities," said Ferrada. "We could have been leaving here as the winner."
The only goal that was missed during the penalty kicks came in the second round when Springfield keeper Jordan Pfenning guessed right on a shot by Silas Chickering-Ayers.
"You have to watch their feet, make a guess and stay with it," said Pfenning, who had to dive to his right to knock the ball away.
After four rounds of penalty kicks Springfield had a 4-3 edge. Caleb Brabant then connected for U-32 leading off the fifth round to tie it 4-4. However, Springfield had the last shot and James Krakowski drove it home.
"When Jordan made the save I knew our chances were pretty good and I felt really good when James Karkowski was taking the last shot," said Springfield coach Paul Kendall.
Others who were successful with penalty kicks for Springfield were John Kendall, Ryan Brady, Derek Osborne and Ethan McAllister.
Connecting for U-32 were Jack Shea, Ryan Shea and Drew Sorenson.
"We started practicing our corner kicks in August and it paid off today," said Kendall who added that some nights the players would get a little testy when he made the practice run a little late to take more penalty kicks.
"It's nice when all that work you put into shows in a game like this," said Kendall. "We were practicing penalty kicks on Sunday."
Springfield trailed 1-0 until 21:35 left in the first half when they tied the game on a slick play as Derek Graham slid a through pass to John Kendall who twisted a shot inside the far post from just outside the 18.
That goal countered a U-32 score just three minutes before when a Carter Austin-Bradley throw-in went to Jordan Black-Deegan who collected the ball high on his right leg and nudged it toward Pfenning, who gloved it, but couldn't hold it, and Black-Deegan was there waiting and drilled it home.
U-32 finished with a 10-6 edge in shots on goal and 6-1 in corners and had some great chances, including one in the first 90 seconds when an Austin-Bradley throw-in was tipped over the cage by Pfenning. The Springfield defense had to be at its best as Brabant twice made his way for what looked like clear shots, but first Karkowski and then McAllister got into the play just in time to kick the ball away. Brabant had a partial breakaway later in the period only to be denied by Angelo Jardina, who slid across just as Brabant was firing.
The overtimes were relatively quiet. In the first 10-minute session Austin-Bradley had a direct kick from outside the 18 that was wide and in the second overtime U-32 had a corner with just a minute to play, but the Springfield defense headed the ball away.
U-32 played without top scorer Mitchell Ferrrada who broke his leg in two places in the playdowns.
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