CONWAY -- The East girls might have been the winner on the scoreboard, but the true champion of the Arkansas High School Coaches Association's soccer games might have been the weather Wednesday night.
Abigail Persson of Sylvan Hills pushed her penalty kick past West goalie Jessica McCauley of Central Arkansas Christian and gave the East a 3-2 shootout victory during a rain-shortened match at the Stephens Track and Soccer Complex.
"We didn't even practice PKs," said Lauren Roth of Shiloh Christian. "It was surprising that we didn't think we needed to."
Heavy rain hit the field just as the match started, then play was called after 1 minute, 30 seconds because of lightning. Play did not resume until 7:30 p.m. -- 90 minutes past the original starting time -- and officials elected to shorten the match to 40 minutes, half the normal match time, in order to give the boys' match an opportunity to start.
The two teams then had to completely switch out their teams after the halfway point, meaning players' All-Star experience accounted to just about 20 minutes.
"By the time I got out there and felt comfortable, it was time to get off," said Roth, who played the second 20-minute session. "The rain delay hurt us a little bit, but I thought we did good."
The teams remained scoreless at the end of regulation, then they were still tied 2-2 after the first penalty-kick session. Rori Whittaker of Bryant and Kasey Smith of El Dorado scored for the West, while the East countered with shots by Meagan Moore of Sheridan and Givonne Marshall of North Little Rock.
Brittanie Gragg of Huntsville had the sixth penalty kick for the West, but her attempt was high and wide right of the goal. That set up Persson, who went to her right and pushed it past McCauley for the victory.
Boys
West 0, East 0 (West wins 5-3 PKs)
Jack Lakey of Greenbrier fired the decisive penalty shot off the hands of East goalie Baylee Moore of Greenwood and into the net to secure the West victory.
Both teams played to a scoreless tie through a shortened 40-minute regulation period with neither team able to mount a serious scoring threat. The score remain tied through the first three penalty kicks, then Logan Steed of Lake Hamilton broke the tie when his shot went into the upper right-hand corner of the net and gave the West a 4-3 lead.
The East's chance to tie the match again was thwarted when Heriberto Marin of North Little Rock hit his penalty kick off the crossbar and away from the goal. That set up Lakey, whose shot went into the left side of the net.
"That didn't help out a lot," said Yosi Umana of Siloam Springs, who was a member of the West team. "I think if we were able to play more, it would have been a much better game.
"Once we were able to get into the flow of the game, we were able to pass the ball back and forth and make some good plays. We just couldn't finish out there."
Sports on 06/26/2014