CONWAY -- After 4o minutes of slipping and sliding on the University of Central Arkansas soccer field, the West All-Stars finally found stable ground thanks to their penalty kicks.
The West hit all five of its shots in the shootout to outlast the East in the annual Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star game on Wednesday night at the Bill Stephens Complex. The weather-shortened game finished in a 0-0 tie after regulation. The West won the shootout 5-3.
Greenbrier's Jack Lakey put an end to the contest when his kick glanced off the gloves of Greenwood goalie Baylee Moore and into the back of the net. Lakey's shot came just seconds after North Little Rock's Heriberto Marin hit the crossbar for the first and only miss of the shootout.
"Many things were going through my mind," said Lakey, who scored 25 goals during the regular season. "The main one was that if I hit the shot, we win. ... Walking up to take the shot, I told myself I was going to try an upper (shot). I said I'm going there no matter what."
Evan Munro of Hot Springs Lakeside was selected as the game's MVP. Munro, Lakey, Bryce Denker (Bryant), Andrew Matthews (Harrison) and Logan Steed (Lake Hamilton) were all successful with their penalty kicks for the West. Jose Crisostomo (Russellville), Miguel Nava (Russellville) and Trevor Reed (Cabot) scored the East's penalty kick goals.
"It was slippery out there," West goalie Grio De La Paz of Hot Springs said. "It's a lot harder when it's slippery. Everybody misses the ball. It kind of just skids on the grass. It doesn't roll."
Neither team had many shots on goal, but the West claimed possession for the majority of the final 10 minutes and even secure three corner kicks in the final three minutes. The West got two decent shots off the corner kicks, but both shots sailed over the crossbar.
"It was really wet out there," Lakey said. "We had many opportunities. We just couldn't quite get through because it was so slippery. We had our chances but we didn't get anything until the end."
The players and coaches felt fortunate to play. The girls game was delayed by 90 minutes by lightning and was also cut to one half of play. Wednesday's boys game started at 8:47. The final 10 minutes were played with a light rain falling.
"We were very concerned," East Coach Steve Porter of Cabot said. "The boys had put in a lot of effort to come this far and work so hard. It would have been a real disappointment if they hadn't have gotten to play."
Sports on 06/26/2014