Through two 40-minute halves and two 10-minute overtime periods, Republic and Branson were dead even. After five penalty kicks apiece, they were still tied. But finally, on the sixth penalty kick of the night, after Drew Flippin had scored for Republic, Tiger goalkeeper Cody Marcotte came up with the game-saver.
Marcotte kicked away a Branson shot, sending the ball sailing over the cross-post, to preserve a 3-2 Republic win at home Monday night. Marcotte was reluctant to take credit for the save after the game.
“You just have to pick a side,” he says. “You never know which side they’re going to pick. You’ve just got pick, and if they go that way, and you save it, it’s a save… You can’t really do much against PKs.”
The Tigers got on the board early, scoring in the first minute when Tanner Peabody fed Dawson Sjomeling with a throw-in that Sjomeling put in the back of the net.
Branson tied it up 13 minutes later, but Republic struck again on a pass from Armando Hurtado to Julio Quezada in the 51st minute. The Tigers led 2-1, but only briefly before Branson tied the game again two minutes later.
Both teams failed to score in the final 25 minutes of regulation, and again through 20 minutes of overtime, although the Tigers had several chances and couldn’t convert.
Republic travels to Carthage Tuesday night for another Central Ozark Conference match.
