E.C. Glass girls soccer team advances on shootout goal

For the last two weeks, E.C. Glass’ girls soccer team has devoted an extra 20 minutes in practice to penalty kicks. The players run wind sprints for 15 minutes to simulate the fatigue of an overtime game and then take aim at the goal.

The extra work paid off Monday against Osbourn Park in the quarterfinal round of the Northwest Region playoffs.

The Hilltoppers made all five of their penalty kicks and Osbourn Park missed one wide right in a 5-4 overtime shootout at E.C. Glass.

Freshman midfielder Myranda Emery, the third player in order for the Yellow Jackets (11-7-2), booted the ball past the right post, and the Hilltoppers followed with three straight goals to pull out the win.

E.C. Glass senior Jeanine Johnston scored the clinching goal by knocking the ball into the right side of the net.

“The only thing that was going through my mind was, ‘Dear God, please let me make this,’” Johnston said. “I knew where I was going, but I was freaking out I was so nervous.”
The Hilltoppers (14-4) visit Woodbridge Wednesday in the region semifinals.

Both teams were scoreless through regulation and four overtimes, the last two sudden death. The Hilltoppers seamed to gain steam in the extra periods, however. Their best scoring opportunities came in overtime.

“I think we realized that, ‘Hey, this could be our last game,’” Johnston said.

Both teams were turned away in the first overtime. Glass freshman forward Dessi Dupuy headed a crossing pass from Johnston right at Osbourn Park goalie Bethany Bayles, and seconds later freshman midfielder Ashlea Caylor missed wide right.

The Yellow Jackets’ best scoring opportunity came in the closing seconds of the first extra period. Senior forward Karen Bonilla’s free kick was a hair off target. It hit the crossbar, and the Hilltoppers cleared it out.

“(Penalty kicks are) a horrible way to end the game,” Osbourn Park coach Robert Watters said. “We had our chances. We hit the crossbar. We had a couple of other chances we should have finished.”

E.C. Glass felt comfortable shooting penalty kicks, despite faring poorly in its only other PK game this season.

It lost to Osbourn earlier in the season on PKs. It missed all three of its shots in that game while Osbourn made all three.

That was one of the reasons for the extra attention to penalty kicks in practice.

It might have been the reason goalkeeper Anna Greene, who played the entire second half and all four overtimes, approached coach Darien McClurg and put in a good word for teammate Emily Kerns.

“Anna stepped up right as we went to the overtime and said, ‘Emily is better at these than me. Use her,’” McClurg said of Greene, who was in goal for the Osbourn PKs. “I think that’s great when a teammate can look at a teammate and say, ‘You’re better at these than me.’”

Kerns started and played the first 40 minutes. She sat the rest of the game. But she had confidence heading into the penalty kicks. She won a PK overtime game in club soccer in the fall, and she turned away the only penalty kick she faced this season, in a regular-season game at Franklin County.

“You really want to go with the kid that feels more confident, and even though Emily hadn’t played for about 40 minutes, I thought she stepped up and made some good guesses, and I think that probably played into the miss they had,” McClurg said.

Kerns noticed Emery cheating to the right — Kerns’ left — and played the ball to that side. Fortunately, it missed the goal altogether.

That gave the Hilltoppers’ shooters, who went second in the alternate shot format, a bit of a comfort zone for the final three shots.

Junior Kendall Good aimed left.

Her shot hit the hand of Bayles but still went in. Senior Michele Taylor powered the ball into the right side for a goal, and then Johnston finished it with her tally.

Before the shot, she jumped and twisted her hips a couple of times to loosen up. She took aim and won the game.

“I was very relieved,” Kerns said.

“We’ve been playing together since we were nine or 10 years old, and I can always count on her to save our butt.”