Cape soccer falls to Central on PKs

After 80 minutes of regulation, 20 minutes of overtime and two rounds of penalty kicks, the Sussex Central advanced to the semifinals of the Division I soccer state tournament. 

Cape opened the match’s scoring when Lee Levis took rebound from Central keeper Jairo Ramos-Solis and buried it left-footed into the back of the twine. Central senior Calab Perez followed with the tying goal. 

The game went back and forth, with each team having the win on their foot, but the goalie play was impeccable from both teams with Anton Schierenberg stopping seven Central shots in regulation and Central keeper Jairo Ramos-Solis stopping two penalty kicks in the shootout. 

The Knights had missed a PK attempt in the second half.

“Going into the game, we knew we had a better technical team,” said Central coach Kevin Cash. “We just had to not make mistakes on Cape’s throw-ins and set pieces. We put together a plan that would disrupt their set pieces, and it worked. It was an amazing game played by both teams, and it's a shame it came down to PKs.”

Cape coach Patrick Kilby thought his team had the advantage going into PKs.

“The last three PKs they took, Anton had stopped two and they missed the third, so I thought we had the advantage,” Kilby said. “We knew they were going to have most of the possession because they are a very good technical and skilled team. We put in a game plan to play compact and get behind the ball. We had a line of confrontation at the football 35-yard line, and the boys executed it flawlessly. We played to get set pieces and got our goal off a throw in. They stopped us from getting any corner kicks.” 

The Vikings had two possible scores disallowed for offside calls. 

“I’m very disappointed with the loss and thought we had a couple of goals scored during the game that could’ve gotten us across the line without the overtime and penalty kicks,” said junior Austin Tyndall. “But when you go to penalty kicks, you never know what is gonna happen. It’s unpredictable in moments like that.”

“We had a really good season with a good group of guys,” said senior captain Lawson Whaley. “We found a lot of success in winning hard games, but fell short in the end.”

“We were very familiar with our opponent and knew it was going to be a tough game, and unfortunately we couldn’t come out on top,” said Levis. “I couldn’t be more proud of our efforts last game and how much we grew as a team over this season. I was blessed with the opportunity of leading this team along with all the great seniors, and watching the younger guys grow. It truly goes by fast, and I hope I can stay close to all these guys in the coming years.”