Quincy, MI. – The District tournament playoffs for the MHSAA girls soccer began Wednesday night, and the Pirates of Napoleon travelled to Quincy for the first round match-up. The Pirates put a lot of offensive pressure on Quincy, and after 14 minutes, it was the Pirates’ Marisa Stark giving the Pirates the 1-0 lead early on.
Right after her goal, Stark drove in close again, getting off a great shot right away and almost scored again. Less than 2 minutes later, Elle Naylor drove hard and fast down the middle of the field and passed the ball to Lily Eagen, who scored, giving the Pirates a huge 2-0 lead. Quincy would cut the lead in half, scoring at the 12:24 mark.
In the second half, Quincy kept the ball mainly in the Pirates’ offensive zone, but the Pirates’ defense came up big. But at about the 25-minute mark, Quincy was able to tie the game up. Shortly thereafter, Quincy would score again, taking a 3-2 lead. But the Pirates didn’t give up. They turned up the pressure.
Freshman Kate Van Wagnen got the cross kick, and Abby Jennings made some great moves to get the ball past defenders and down to Stark, who scored her second goal of the game and tied it up at 3. With time running out in regulation, the Pirates got pressure near the opponent’s goal when Van Wagnen got the ball right to Stark in front of the goal, but Quincy’s goalkeeper got her hands on it but couldn’t control it. The ball got played up in the air, and when it came down, Eagen was standing right at the goalline and put it in for what would be a huge 4-3 advantage for the Pirates.
The sideline ref was lined up even with the goalline, watching and never called anything about it, and considered it a goal, but the field referee, who was about 30 yards from the action, called no goal, illegal goal, because he said the pirates used their hands. There was no proof of this, and pictures show otherwise.
The two teams would face off in double overtime, with neither team able to score in the winner-take-all game. Then there was a penalty kick shootout. In the first penalty kick shootout, each team scored twice out of 5. In the second round of the penalty kick shootout, Quincy won the game and will advance to the District tournaments.
Pirates Senior exchange student Alessia “Roma” Romagnuolo did an outstanding job and had 8 saves during the game, and stopped 4 of 8 penalty kicks that she faced. It is her first time playing organized soccer, and the first time she has ever had to do a penalty kick shootout.
After the Game, Pirates Head Coach Alan Berkeypile gave a great inspirational and positive speech to his team. He thanked the 11 seniors who helped start the program just a few years ago. All the coaches thanked the time, and it was an emotional event. The Pirates finish the season with a 7-10-1 record and will be bringing back a lot of talent next season and adding more.
