Tuesday’s soccer match between Republic and Willard went on so long that even the coaches weren’t exactly sure what would come next–but finally, after playing to a 3-3 tie over the first 80 minutes; after playing one scoreless ten-minute overtime period, followed by another; after five penalty kicks without a winner; then a sixth, a seventh, and so on and so forth, still with no winner decided; after each team missed once and each goalkeeper made an unlikely save; finally, on Willard’s 11th kick of the night, with Republic holding a one-goal advantage, the ball sailed over the cross-post and into the backstop, giving Republic a 3-3 (9-8) win.
Coach Kevin Hauck says he’s never seen anything like it. “That’s the longest one I’ve been in. To go 11 kickers, I’ve never done that one before.”
In penalty kicks, each team takes five shots. If the score is still tied after five, a sixth player for each team comes on to take a shot. If it’s still tied, a seventh, and so on. When 11 players have taken shots, if the score is still tied, the cycle starts over, and the original shooters kick again. That’s such a rare occurrence that Hauck admits he didn’t even know the rule before officials informed him.
But it didn’t matter, because Republic’s 11th kicker, Jean Carlo Marin, calmly booted the ball to the left of Willard’s keeper to give Republic a 9-8 edge, and Willard’s Andrew Stewart missed his shot to end the game.
Republic had fallen behind 1-0, but Alex Leonard tied the score with a goal. The Tigers took the lead twice after that: once when Marco Donjuan gave them a 2-1 lead, and again when Austin Beck made the score 3-2. In each case, Willard answered with the tying goal, leading to the eventual PK showdown.
“I though it showed a lot of fight for our team,” says Hauck. “We kept fighting and they kept fighting, too. To pull out the win, that’s a huge victory for us.”