Liberty goal in 92nd minute ends scoreless duel with Raymore-Peculiar

Stymied. Frustrated. Confounded. That’s what both Liberty and Raymore-Peculiar boys soccer players were feeling during the first 91 minutes of their match Monday.

Neither team was able to score in 80 minutes of regulation play or during a 10-minute sudden-death overtime. The stalemate finally ended in the 92nd minute when Liberty sophomore Drew Dempsey used the inside of his right foot to send a slow roller into the net to lift the Blue Jays to a 1-0 victory.

“It was luck,” a very humble Dempsey said of his game-winning shot. “It was a good ball, though. I took it from the side, and it was just the best chance I had all game.”

Raymore-Peculiar coach Bret Pummill said he couldn’t fault his players too much for the game’s outcome.

“It’s double overtime, and a little flick ball goal gets by, it happens,” Pummill said. “I think (Liberty coach Tom Rottjakob) would agree that you don’t want to see the game end on that kind of a goal, but that’s the game. We accept that. That’s just how it works.”

For Raymore-Peculiar, 2-14, the silver lining was its defensive effort.

Despite spending most of the second period and extra play in a defensive set, the Panthers held the much more experienced Blue Jays, 9-7, at bay.

Goalkeeper Austin Prindle gathered 12 saves and was often supported by strong team defense.

“We are really young this year,” Pummill said. “As a matter of fact, we only returned one starter this year. So to watch our defenders come together was good. That’s been the focus of our practice all fall, really. They’re starting to figure everything out, and starting to get comfortable with each other.”

Liberty goalkeeper Justin Malone collected seven saves, five in the first period.

Rottjakob said he was impressed by defensive play at both nets.

“I thought their goal keeper did a great job, and Justin did his job for us,” Rottjakob said. “He made the must-saves. He didn’t have to make a lot of them. But I felt like he played off of his line better coming out to get balls when they were looking for their front runners. He was able to clean that up.

“It was a good game. I felt like we had possession for a lot of the game, but they had some good counter-attacks. We were able to weather those. We felt like we had some opportunities that we just weren’t able to finish.”

submitted by DANNY STOOKSBURY Special to the Star - 2009-10-20 14:04:01

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