AZUSA, Calif. -- Different year. Same result.
Just 4 years removed from a heartbreaking loss on penalty kicks at Alliant International in the 2001 NAIA Region II championship match, the NAIA's No. 3-ranked Azusa Pacific experienced déjà vu today.
After playing 110 minutes to a 2-2 tie, Holy Names outlasted the Cougars, 4-3, on penalty kicks in the championship match of the 2004 NAIA Region II Men's Soccer Tournament, earning the region's automatic bid to next week's NAIA Tournament.
"Once you get to penalty kicks, it's a coin flip," said Azusa Pacific head coach Phil Wolf. "It's the game. It's a cruel way to go, but it's better than playing on for 3 hours, which this game could've done. It's disappointing, because we did everything we could. They (Holy Names) played about as perfectly as they could've played."
The Cougars must wait until tomorrow to see if they will earn an at-large bid to the 20-team tournament which begins next Wednesday (Nov. 17) in Olathe, Kan.
Holy Names' Guilherme Souza sandwiched his 29th and 30th goals, including the game-tying tally in the 84th minute, around a pair of Cougar goals. He had 10 of the Hawks' 11 shots and put the Hawks on the board in the 22nd minute when he chipped a Morgan Cathey clearance back over Cathey's head into the net.
Ian Leibbrandt equalized it, though, with his 12th of the season in the 39th minute. Matt Nelson found Skelly Kellar just past the midfield stripe. Kellar carried the ball past several Hawk defenders and into the box where he found an oncoming Leibbrandt, who one-timed it with the outside of his right foot spinning it into the near post net.
Then, in the 63rd minute, Andriy Budnyy collected the ball in the middle of the field and found a streaking Brandon Stirm down the left sideline. Stirm then crossed it into the box where Budnyy controlled it with a touch before tucking it away in the lower right corner.
That score appeared to be enough as the Cougars began to control play. But in the 84th minute, the Hawks countered a Cougar attack. Tobias Edenvik sent a long ball to the right sideline to Sukui Ono. Ono then touched it once down the line before crossing into the box to a wide-open Souza, who easily buried the game-tying goal to set up overtime.
"I thought the game was over at 2-1," said Wolf, "but they countered, we fell asleep on the left side and there you go."
Neither team had great chances in overtime, but of the few the Cougars had the best. Budnyy received a ball that he one-touched to the right side of the box before hammering a shot just over the crossbar.
In the penalty kick shootout, Leibbrandt and Souza both converted. Kellar's attempt hit the crossbar, and Cathey saved Edenvik's shot to keep the score tied at 1-1 after 2. Hawk GK Ricardo Marquez, who came onto the game just for the PKs, saved Budnyy's attempt, and Tobias Flueckiger converted to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead after 3 attempts.
Stirm and Simon Gustafsson both converted on the fourth attempts, and David Cassarotte scored on the Cougars fifth to tie it at 3-3. But Marc Maurer converted what turned out to be the game-winner, although Cathey was able to get his hands on it before it banged off the post and into the net sending the Hawks to the national tournament.
"We weren't ourselves today," said Wolf. "I don't know why. We looked tired and maybe didn't have our legs. We just didn't have the performance we were looking for, but that stuff happens. That's soccer."
Officially, the result goes into the books as a 2-2 tie, which moves the Cougars to 16-1-2 overall and the Hawks to 10-6-3.
"The point of playing your regular season is to go to nationals," said Wolf. "Fortunately these guys put themselves in a good enough position that we're considered. This group needs to play on."
