Central’s scored on its fifth penalty to settle a game that had gone 100 minutes without a goal. The winning kick gave the Bulldogs a 4-3 win in the tiebreaker and a 1-0 decision over Republic on Monday at Republic.
Josh Hart’s kick to open the shootout and Micah Wright’s on the third round were both saved, and Republic spent the rest of the tiebreaker a goal behind. Central converted four of its five.
Koal Williams made seven saves in regulation and the two overtime periods and did not allow a goal until the shootout, where he stopped Central’s second kick. Central took 19 shots in the run of play and got seven of them on goal. Republic took 11 and put two on goal.
Williams was busy from the start, saving shots in the seventh and 11th minutes while Central held the ball for long stretches of the opening 20 minutes. Republic’s first real look came off a corner kick in the 11th minute, but Logan Renkoski put his shot high a minute later. Isaiah Redman also shot high in the 19th minute. Central sent four more shots high or wide before halftime, and Maddox Aldridge blocked another in the 10th minute.
Williams saved Central shots in the 49th and 60th minutes. And in the first overtime, he was busier than ever. Williams saved a shot in the 82nd minute, then made two more saves 10 seconds apart in the 85th during a scramble in front of the goal, with a third Central shot from the sequence going wide two seconds after that. Wright’s shot at the other end in the 86th minute was saved.
Republic controlled the game during much of the second overtime without getting a shot on goal. Renkoski blocked a shot in the 91st minute, and Maddox Aldridge and Morgan Aldridge both put shots over the goal in the 94th and 96th.
Game page →In the tiebreaker, Central scored after Hart’s miss to go up 1-0. Redman answered, Williams saved Central’s second kick, and Wright’s kick was saved to leave the round even at 1-1. Central scored on each of its next three kicks. Maddox Aldridge answered the first, and Landon Otero, who came on as a substitute seconds before he stepped up, answered the second to tie it 3-3, but Central’s fifth kick went in and finished it.
Central was called for 19 fouls to Republic’s nine. Each team had two corner kicks. Republic blocked five shots, two by Maddox Aldridge.
The loss ends a three-game winning streak and drops Republic to 5-4. Central is 6-1. The Tigers play at Capital City on Friday.
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