Reprinted courtesy of:
Shelbyville News
By Jeff Brown
Shelbyville’s boys’ soccer team proved unkind hosts to three teams Saturday in an invitational tournament.
A strong first 40 minutes propelled the Golden Bears past New Albany in the first semifinal game, 4-1.
Then
it went past 80 minutes and into a shootout for before Shelbyville
defeated Fishers, 5-4 in a shootout to claim its first championship in
the five-year history of the event.
Goalkeeper Michael Parks stopped two Fishers’ penalty kicks and Shelbyville never missed to improve to 3-0 this season.
The
Golden Bears wouldn’t have been in the shootout if not for a pair of
freshmen scoring in the last 11 minutes of the title game.
Fishers led 3-0 at halftime and 4-0 early in the second half.
Mitch
Brown started the Shelbyville comeback with a goal in the 63rd minute.
Gary Oldham cut the lead in half with his first goal of the season
nearly one minute later.
Freshman Shane Brown, who scored his
first varsity goal in the semifinal win over New Albany, notched goal
No. 2 of his career in the 69th minute giving the Golden Bears a chance
to steal the win.
And in the final minute, freshman Cole Johnson, off an assist from Austin Nedderman, tied the game at 4-4.
“The
best thing about the win came in the second half when I put in some of
the younger kids to try and see if they could spark anything,”
Shelbyville coach Mike Eggleston said. “Within about 10 minutes we had
two of them score.”
Parks, a senior and
four-year starter, scored Shelbyville’s first goal in the shootout then
denied shot attempts in rounds three and five to give the Golden Bears
an insurmountable 4-3 advantage.
Mitch Brown, Oldham and Alex Collier provided the final three scores for Shelbyville in the shootout.
Nedderman, who had two assists in the championship game, used his speed to create fits for New Albany in the semifinals.
The
senior broke a scoreless tie with 23:37 left in the first half off a
terrific pass from midfielder Roberto Salazar. Nedderman simply had to
gather in the pass then redirect a shot to the corner of the goal past
New Albany goalkeeper Danny Hartman.
Twelve minutes later,
Nedderman made it 2-0 when he dropped a free kick from outside the
goalkeeper’s box into the back of the net over the outstretched arm of
Kameron Jenkins, who replaced Hartman who was injured in a collision
with Shelbyville forward Leonardo Lua two minutes earlier.
“Austin
is just playing phenomenal,” Eggleston said. “He is really determined
to make this his best year and so far he has set the pace.”
Collier made it 3-0 just before halftime when he scored off a rebound of an Oldham shot.
The three-goal lead and the shutout on defense proved to be one of Shelbyville’s more complete performances in recent years.
“I was anxious to see how this was going to go,” Eggleston said. “The guys really stepped up to play.
“I’ve said it before and I will say it again. ‘This team can be as good as they want to be.’”
Shane Brown scored his first varsity goal for Shelbyville with 8:13 to go in the game.
New
Albany finally broke through on the scoreboard with 4:39 to go when
reserve forward Drew Hirsch knocked a loose ball into the net.
In
the second semifinal, Fisher defeated Franklin Central, 3-1. And in the
consolation game, New Albany rebounded to defeat the Flashes.
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