Cougar Soccer falls to Meade County in Penalty Kicks

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After playing to a 3-3 tie in regulation and the extra time period, Meade County outscored the Cougars 4-1 in a penalty kick shootout to win the only district game of the year.

Grayson County got the scoring starting in the 18th minute on a goal from Wyatt Schultz. The junior midfielder beat the Green Wave defender to the ball short of the boundary line and sent it into the top right corner of the goal to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

It took Meade only five minutes to find an equalizer as Brooks Nelson went one-on-one with the Cougar goalkeeper Brady Whobrey and sent one into the bottom right corner just of reach. Meade County spent the remainder of the first half taking multiple shots at Whobrey with the junior keeper knocking most of them out-of-the-way until Mason Craycroft gave the Green Waves their first lead in the 31st minute.

That score held the remainder of the half despite Schultz having a shot just saved by the Green Wave defender.

The second half started with an immediate save by Whobrey. That started the pursuit for the Cougar offense that ended with Schultz finding Cody Watkins who found the back of the net to tie the match at 2 in the 45th minute.

Grayson County had a chance to take the lead in the 53rd minute after a Green Wave defender got a bad bounce on a kick out-of-bounds that rolled out for a corner kick. The attempt for the offense went long and sent the Green Wave offense on a race down the field. On the pursuit, Grayson Pollack sent a kick high that Whobrey knocked over the top of the goal bar.

In the 63rd minute, Meade was granted a penalty kick after a foul was called in the box against Grayson County. After the call, Cougar coach Kenny Fukuhara was called for a yellow card after disputing the call. Senior forward Levi Stewart took the penalty kick and converted to give Meade the 3-2 advantage.

Whobrey had a massive 68th minute saving the ball three times including after Meade set up a play after a corner kick. After clearing the ball, the Cougars went on an offensive attack before Watkins was fouled inside the box and a penalty kick was awarded to Grayson County. On the attempt, Watkins sent it on a line drive into the top right pocket over the diving goal keeper to tie the match in the 70th minute.

The Green Wave offense had multiple other chances in the closing minutes to take the lead, but Whobrey and the Cougar defense stopped the chances to close regulation.

Since the two teams are district opponents, the match cannot end in a tie, so the two teams entered into 2 five-minute extra time segments. The first segment featured both teams going back and forth, but neither team attempted a shot on goal. After a slide tackle was deemed as legal by the head official, Meade County head coach Matt Pollack was carded after entering the field of play. Meade had the only shot attempt in the extra time period; one that went wide right in the 88th minute.

The next step was a penalty kick shootout. After a coin toss, the Green Wave won and decided to kick first. Senior forward Levi Stewart, who had already scored once, trotted out and sent one just out of the reach of Whobrey to give the Green Wave the early advantage. For Grayson, Cody Watkins’ shot was stopped by the Meade keeper.

The second shooting sequence featured a goal from Brooks Nelson for Meade and Josh Stevenson for Grayson County. Mason Craycroft added a goal of his own in the third shot and Matthew Haycraft’s shot was stopped by Meade to make it a 3-1 game. With the chance to win on the line, Clayton Anschutz sent one just out of the reach of Whobrey to clinch the victory for the Green Wave.

The loss snapped a six game winning streak for the Cougars which was the longest in program history. They will be back in action on Saturday morning at 11am against Campbellsville. They will play the same Meade County team in the 11th District Championship game on October 9th at the Cougar Soccer Stadium.

By Sam Gormley, Play-by-Play Announcer/Local Sports
Reach Sam at sam@k105.com

A Cougar midfielder sends a shot past the diving keeper. The shot went wide right.
Brady Whobrey (0) dives to his right to make a nice save.
Cody Watkins attempts a penalty kick in the second half of the game against Meade County. The shot was good and tied the game at 3.
Brady Whobrey dives to his right to attempt to stop the first penalty kick from Levi Stewart.