Dobbelare saves the day for Perryville in semis

Perryville goalie Luke Dobbelare told his coach if his teammates could net five goals in the upcoming penalty kicks, he would take care of the rest.

Cool-hand Luke came through with his promise.

Dobbelare stopped a do-or-die penalty kick with the season on the line and then added a game-winning penalty save to propel the top-seeded Pirates past fourth-seeded Sikeston 2-1 in Tuesday's night Class 2 District 1 semifinal at Central High School.

"[Dobbelare] told me if we could put five in he would win it for us," Perryville coach Jerry Fulton said. "Well, we put five in, but only we had to take six shooters to do it -- he didn't give me that information."

After playing to a 1-1 tie through 80 minutes of regulation and two 15 minutes overtime periods, Sikeston and Perryville refused to separate themselves -- until the fifth kicker of the ensuing penalty kicks.

The Pirates found the net on their first four kicks, and Sikeston matched Perryville goal for goal before the fifth kicker for each team stepped up.

Perryville's Pablo Mattingly sailed his kick high, setting up a potential game-winner for Sikeston's Chase Baran.

Dobbelare had other ideas than watching the Bulldogs celebrate.

The junior goalie moved to his right to stop Baran's kick and give the Pirates new life.

"I thought for sure we had lost it when Chase came up to be their fifth kicker," Fulton said. "When our fifth guy put it over the net I thought Sikeston had won, I really did."

Perryville goalie Luke Dobbelare stops Sikeston’s final penalty kick after double overtime for Perryville to win the Class 2 District 1 soccer semifinal Tuesday at Central High School.

Perryville's Michael Volansky calmly buried the sixth kick for Perryville, and Dobbelare again guessed right to stop Sikeston's Gavin O'Brien and send Perryville into the district finals, where the Pirates will defend their crown.

"I guessed right," Dobbelare said. "I thought he would go to my right, and I guessed right. We practiced it yesterday. I told [my team] they're really good PK shooters and I told them if they could put it in I would stop it for them, and that's what I did."

It was a wild finish to an otherwise stagnant game.

Both teams failed to capitalize on opportunities throughout the game and into the overtime periods.

"I felt like everyone was starting to get tired there toward the end," Perryville junior Matthew Moran said. "It was just back and forth."

The major regulation excitement came in the span of 60 seconds.

Sikeston managed to get on the board three minutes into the second half when there was a scrum in front of Perryville's goal and the ball popped loose to Sikeston's Sam Cox, who tapped the ball into the net.

"It bounced around between three or four of our players and their players," Dobbelare said. "They just ended up getting a foot on it before us."

Less than 60 seconds later, Moran had the answer.

Moran took a cross, beat a defender, and hit a rope into the lower right corner to tie the game and swing the momentum back to the Pirates.

"I just got a ball in from one of my teammates and I started to fake a shot with my left foot. The defender dove, took my space, and I just took a rip and hoped for the best," Moran said. "Coming back with that goal real quick changed the whole game."

The equalizer was a welcomed sight for Fulton.

"I didn't think we had taken enough shots on the keeper outside," Fulton said. "I thought we kept trying to work everything in. I thought we needed to take some more shots from outside, and Matt finally took one outside and it went in."

Perryville nearly added another goal two minutes later when a free kick rolled across Sikeston's box to the Pirates' Juan Hernandez, but the ball got tangled in Hernandez's feet and Sikeston cleared.

Sikeston's best chance came in the eighth minute of the first overtime period when a cross came in and Jared Boyd found himself alone at the six-yard box, but Dobbelare was in position to stifle Boyd's header.

It all set up Dobbelare's heroics, and now the Pirates have a chance to defend their district crown.

"He's been steady and just an anchor for the whole defense all season," Fulton said about Dobbelare. "He's got 15 shutouts on the year for a reason."