Jackson stands its ground, defeats Saxony Lutheran 1-0 in shootout

After diving to his right and left, Justin Darnell didn't move to make his final stop.

Darnell held his position and fielded Matt Wills' kick right at him. The save ended a marathon game, as the Jackson soccer team beat Saxony Lutheran 1-0 on penalty kicks Tuesday at Saxony Lutheran High School.

Darnell, Jackson's senior goalie, said he watched Wills hit the ball before deciding to stand his ground.

"With this ground, it's so rocky and cliffy, you can't tell where it's going," Darnell said.

He bent over and cradled the ball to his chest as it rolled up to him. Wills was the Crusaders' eighth shooter.

"That's always the worst way to lose, I think, penalty kicks," Saxony coach Ryan Schweain said. "I hate penalty kicks."

Darnell almost ended it a round earlier when he went down and to his left on Chad Bachmann's low shot. Darnell was in position to make the save, but the ball hit something in the ground and bounded up and over Darnell.

"It's just one of those things," Darnell said. "You know you're supposed to have it."

Jackson coach Zack Walton said he was impressed with Darnell's ability to put the bad bounce behind him.

"He knows he probably could have made the save before that, but he didn't get it done," Walton said. "He just kept his composure and didn't give up."

Darnell's save won the game because Jackson senior Chris Hogan converted his penalty kick. He sent a low kick to his left that skirted into the back of the goal.

"I watched it come down to me," Hogan said. "I ran out and said, 'All right, I'm ready for this. This is what we came here to do.'"

Hogan said he never knows for sure where he is in the penalty kick lineup, sometimes in the first five and sometimes further down. Even though he was No. 8 on Tuesday, he prepared himself mentally from the first round.

He admitted that he took advantage of his teammates' advice. After each Indians (13-11) player kicked, he listened to each player's assessment of how Saxony goalie Garrett Fritsche responded. He put the information to work for himself when he stepped up to the ball.

"As my teammates were coming back and saying, 'All right, I was looking this way and I kicked it this way,'" Hogan said. "They said, 'He went the way I looked.' I said, 'OK, I can adjust to that.' If I look right, I'm assuming I can go left. That's what I got up there and did. I looked right and he kind of took a stutter step and I saw my chance, and I took it."

Saxony (17-7) was without its starting goalie for the game. Mathew Stueve played goalie during the game, but Schweain turned to Fritsche for the penalty kicks.

"I threw a field player in there," Schweain said. "He's a senior athlete, maybe just a little bigger presence in the goal. He did a good job in there."

Neither team scored on its first penalty kick, then Fritsche stopped Jackson's second shot. The teams were tied 3-3 when Fritsche stepped to the line with the chance to give his team the victory. He drilled a shot that slammed into the post and rocketed away from the goal, forcing sudden-death kicks.

"It's the best sound in the world," Darnell said. "It's like the Liberty Bell."

That set the stage for Hogan's goal and Darnell's final save.

"This is the second game we lost on penalty kicks," Schweain said. "I think it's mental at this point. Also, just the point of not having our goalie in there."

Both teams had a couple of solid chances in overtime, but neither one could convert. Perhaps the best chance came when Saxony sent a shot that rang off the post just before time expired in the second overtime. The Crusaders also had a shot that drilled the crossbar early in the second half.

Jackson players congratulate Indians goalkeeper Justin Darnell for his penalty-kick save that resulted in a victory Tuesday against Saxony Lutheran. (CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.com) [Order this photo]

Saxony Lutheran's Shawn Hadler, left, and Jackson's Joseph Shultz fight for the ball during Tuesday's game. (CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.com) [Order this photo]

Saxony Lutheran's forward Trevor Mabuce goes up to take control of the ball againist Jackson's Tyson Stoverink. (CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.com) [Order this photo]