Cole Turner (3) and the Bearden Bulldogs played the Collierville Dragons in a TSSAA Class AAA state tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Bearden won on penalty kicks. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO – There is no better time to be perfect on penalty kicks than at the state tournament.
Just ask the Bearden soccer team.
The Bulldogs (19-3-1) made all five of their penalty kicks Tuesday afternoon at Siegel Soccer Complex, ousting Collierville (18-2-3) by a 5-3 score on PKs in the Class AAA state quarterfinals.
The teams were locked in a scoreless tie after 80 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute overtimes.
“It’s unfair. That’s not a way you want to put out a team,” Bearden coach Ryan Radcliffe said. “I feel for Collierville because it’s not a way you want to go out. You’d rather do it in regulation or overtime, but I’m proud of the boys. I’m proud of the confidence we had to be able to step up there. The five shooters, I didn’t pick them. I just asked who was most confident, and we really had seven or eight (players) who wanted to take PKs, so I let them decide themselves, and that was a confident group going up there.”
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Bearden won the 2019 state championship on PKs against Station Camp.
Senior keeper Jonathan Diaz was in goal for Bearden on Tuesday after watching then-senior Holden Giesecke in goal for the PKs against Station Camp.
“I’ve never been in that kind of situation,” Diaz said. “Thankfully I have a good team that stepped up for me when I needed it. I love those guys. They’re always practicing PKs after practice, and I couldn’t be more grateful for any team. They showed they have heart. Even in our region final (against West), we went into overtime and they stepped up. With a group of guys like this, I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Bearden got PK goals Tuesday by Lucas Nordin, Beckett Anderson, Dylan Kolnick, Levi Brady, and Julian Strickland.
Collierville’s only miss in PKs was in the third round when Luke Johnson’s shot skimmed over the crossbar.
Nordin’s shot in the first round of PKs glanced off the crossbar and into the goal.
“I guess if we’re doing a PK everytime we come to Murfreesboro for the state tournament,” Radcliffe said, “we’ll get that out of the way now and maybe the next two games we don’t have to go to PKs.”
Bearden will play Franklin (13-3) on Wednesday at 7:30 ET in the state semifinals.
Franklin posted a 3-0 victory over Columbia in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
“I think it’s always good to be happy with a result, but the job’s not finished,” Diaz said. “We’ve got to forget it and go on to the next game. I know our boys are up to the task. We’ll just go home, get some rest, get iced up and go on from there.
FARRAGUT LOSES, 5-2
Farragut’s first state appearance since 2017 ended Tuesday with a tough second half at Siegel Soccer Complex.
After taking a 2-1 lead into halftime, the Admirals (15-3-3) gave up three goals in the second half of a 5-2 loss to Murfreesboro Oakland (19-0-3).
“I don’t like this outcome because it’s a game of inches and a game of questions,” Farragut coach Bradley Culbreth said. “I’m not questioning my team. I’m questioning other factors. There were other factors in play when we missed finishing this game at 2-2. I get two penalty kicks (not called) and I get one kid carded. I don’t get either penalty kick. I get taken down in the box twice. I get a no-call, and then I get a yellow card on my guy for a dive when it’s tied 2-2. Frustrating. Very frustrating because this team didn’t deserve to lose this game.”
Farragut played without starting senior keeper Max Kaplan, who was hit in the face with a shot against Lenoir City on May 12 in the District 4-AAA semifinals. Kaplan hasn’t played since then due to concussion protocol.
Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Brayden Wilson’s goal after Braxton Robinson’s assist.
Farragut senior Timi Omitaomu scored the next two goals before halftime.
Omitaomu, who will walk on at Indiana, scored in the 34th minute off an assist by Jake Lowe, and scored again 3 minutes later when Brooks Burnett headed an assist forward to Omitaomu.
“We just tried to get back in it. We were down early and that caught us off guard,” Omitaomu said. “The main point was just to try to get back in the game, so that we could get the upper hand once again. Jake and I were able to connect on some passes and were able to put the ball in the back of the net to give us some momentum at the end of the first.”
Oakland tied it 2-all in the 44th minute on a breakaway goal by Robinson, a senior forward who’s signed to play for Mars Hill.
Omitaomu had a long shot bounce off the left post with 20 minutes left in the match.
Robinson scored his second goal – and his 21st of the season — off a corner kick by Brennan McGaughy with 12:41 to play for a 3-2 lead.
Mario Perea scored two minutes later for a 4-2 lead, and Meyzon Oseguera’s goal with 2:03 to play made it 5-2.
“Not taking anything away from them, they’re a great team,” Culbreth said of Oakland. “Their record shows it. They were disciplined and they worked. It doesn’t take anything away from the season we’ve had. They just gave me their heart, and that’s all I can ask. Today too many factors went against us.”
Oakland outshot Farragut 15-8. Farragut was called for 16 fouls, while Oakland was called for 10 fouls.
“We knew they were going to come out hard in the second half but we fell flat,” Omitaomu said, “and that’s what allowed them to get that goal and that gave them the momentum, and after that, it was a landslide for them. Props to them. They have a lot of talent up top and they were able to switch their play on us a lot which opened up the field for them. They had us on our heels the whole time, so props to them, but there’s only so much we can do at that point.”