By Rob Potter
JEFFERSONVILLE — October 15, 2004 – Going into Tuesday’s Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division IV soccer match, the Liberty Indians and host Sullivan West Bulldogs were both looking to record a victory that would possibly improve their chances for qualifying for the upcoming Section IX tournament.
However, neither team walked off the field with that victory.
After competing through 80 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute overtime periods, Liberty and SW remained tied at 1-1.
SW (5-6-1, 1-2-1 OCIAA) scored a goal in the first half and Liberty (3-7-1, 0-3-1 OCIAA) answered with a goal early in the second half. But after neither team scored in the remaining minutes of regulation and the two OT stanzas, the match ended with the score still 1-1.
The Bulldogs’ lone goal came at the 30:34 mark of the first half. On a direct kick, Joe Winski sent the ball into a crowd of players in the Liberty goal box. SW’s Kevin Cappiello gained control of the ball near the Indians’ goal cage and sent a shot past goalkeeper Severick Bislik from close range.
But the SW lead lasted only a few minutes. With 35:04 left in the second half, Liberty evened the score. In what seemed like a split second of confusion for the Bulldogs, Indian forward/midfielder Justin Sutherland beat a SW defender to the ball near the goal cage as Bulldog goalie Joe Layman moved up to make a play on the ball. Sutherland then kicked the ball into the back of the net to knot the score. Indian forward/midfielder Mac Isseks assisted Sutherland on the goal.
From that point on, however, no one could get the ball past Layman and Tyler Hartmann, who entered the match as the Liberty goalie after halftime. Layman finished the game with nine saves and Hartmann was credited with 11 saves. (Bislik made four saves in the first half.)
One of the best scoring chances for either team occurred with just under two minutes left in regulation. SW’s Chris Franke sent a high shot towards the far corner of the net, but Hartmann was able to get in front of the ball and secure it in his hands.
“Of course, I would have liked to have won the match. It’s a divisional match for us and a win would have brought our record closer to .500, which you need for sectionals,” Liberty Coach Hazel Yaun said. “But I’m glad it’s a tie [not a loss.]”
Yaun noted that her team played very well after halftime.
“In the second half, we did a better job of beating them to the ball,” she said. “We had a lot of shots, but just couldn’t get the ball into the back of the net.”
The Indians’ coach also praised Hartmann’s performance.
“He made some incredible saves today,” Yaun said.
SW Coach Joe Ebeling also took note of Liberty’s play in the second half.
“They really took it to us in the second half,” he said. “We really had to work to try and get a clear shot.”
“We had our chances [to score], but couldn’t convert,” Ebeling added.
Like Yaun, Ebeling was not extremely disappointed that the match ended in a tie.
“I can’t be down,” he said. “Our guys played hard the whole match.”