EVERETT — Shootouts are a battle of nerves. And if ever a team showed nerves of steel, it was the Mariner High School boys soccer team on Wednesday night at Goddard Stadium.
The Marauders kept their wits through an excruciating nine rounds of penalty kicks, eventually outlasting the Union Titans to prevail 1-0 in the first round of the 4A state tournament.
Following a scoreless 90 minutes, goalkeeper Drexel Cardona was the star for Mariner, making two saves during the shootout, and the rest of the Marauders spent the shootout burying their penalty kicks hard into the corners as Mariner prevailed 8-7 in the shootout.
“It feels great because most of our team, this is their first time going to state,” Cardona said about advancing. “It feels amazing. We put everything into practice and it shows in the games. We work hard for what we want.”
The victory was just the third at state in Mariner school history, the others coming in 2011 and 1991. The Marauders (15-2-2), the top seed from District 1, advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will hit the road to face Tahoma. Mariner has never advanced past the state quarterfinals.
“It’s sweet to move forward,” Mariner coach Vince DeSimone said.
“We always had good teams, but in the end we were never able to put the best team on the field because of injuries or school issues,” DeSimone added. “But this year I have the whole team there. They’re all passing and it’s been beautiful. They all have good grades and that changes everything.”
Union, the second seed from District 2, finished its season 13-6-1.
Mariner was challenged throughout by a big and physical Union team that at times outmuscled the Marauders. But Mariner’s defense did what it needed to do throughout the 80 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of overtime, sending the game to penalty kicks.
And the Marauders had the advantage of having already survived one shootout this season, beating Mount Vernon on penalty kicks in the district semifinals.
“I was very confident going into the shootout because this was the second one, and we always come through,” DeSimone said. “Our keeper comes from a club team and he has a lot of good experience. We’re happy to have him there right now.”
Indeed, Cardona got the shootout off to the perfect start for Mariner, diving all-out to his left to save the first penalty kick of the shootout.
But after the end of five kicks the shootout was tied 4-4, sending it to sudden death. Ahmed Traore, Agustin Domingo and Badou Ngum all had to convert to keep the game alive for Mariner, and all three scored emphatically.
Then Cardona made his second save, this time diving to his right. That gave Roman Voloshchuk the chance to end the game, and although Union goalkeeper Brandon Wolter was able to get a piece of Voloshchuk’s kick, he couldn’t keep the ball from finding the back of the net, setting off Mariner’s celebrations.
“I feel proud, but I know I could have gotten some earlier ones,” Cardona said about his shootout heroics. “There was one that slid under me, I’ve got to work on that in practice. But we’ll come in even stronger in the next game.
“It was intense,” Cardona added about the shootout. “It reminded me of Mount Vernon, that was intense, too. But luckily me and my team pulled through and we got that win, and that’s all that matters.”
Efren Martinez, Lamin Dampha, Diego Casillas and Bakary Dibba also scored in the shootout for Mariner.
The Titans had the better scoring chances in the first half as Mariner had difficulty dealing with Union’s superior size, and the Marauders were fortunate to get to halftime with it still scoreless.
All of Union’s good chances came during a four-minute flurry late in the half. Jake Gould raced onto a lofted through ball and powered a shot that deflected wide. A well-placed Jonathan Granados free kick set three Titans behind the Marauders defense, but Cardona was somehow able to scramble the ball away before any of the Union players could find the ball. Finally, Masaki Rhodes had a drive from 20 yards saved onto the crossbar by Cardona, and it remained 0-0 heading into the second half.
Mariner was finally able to generate some offense in the second half. The Marauders had three quick chances in close, only to have two blocked by the defense and the third denied by Wolter. Then in the 72nd minute Andrii Kholodiuk’s cross-turned-shot seemed ticketed for the top corner, only for a diving Wolter to touch it over the crossbar, and the game headed to overtime.
There were some frantic moments in the second overtime as in the space of 90 seconds Ngum had a free kick from 35 yards whistle just over, Granados had a opening that deflected wide, and Domingo had a shot from the edge of the box squib wide, and the game headed to the decisive penalty kicks.
At Goddard Stadium
Goals—None. Shootout goals—Mariner: Efren Martinez, Lamin Dampha, Diego Casillas, Bakary Dibba, Ahmed Traore, Agustin Domingo, Roman Voloshshuk. Union: not available. Records—Union 13-6-1 overall. Mariner 15-2-2.
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