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Busters out shoot Barton County for Region VI crown
Published 11/3/2008 in None : GCCC
By BRETT MARSHALL
TOPEKA -- Goalkeepers are sometimes overlooked.
It's a lonely position. Just like placekickers in American football, goalkeepers can be either the hero or the goat.
For the Garden City Broncbusters, their hero Sunday was sophomore goalkeeper Chris Raines, who almost single-handedly carried Garden to the Region VI championship with a 2-1 victory over No. 2-ranked and Jayhawk Conference West Division nemesis Barton County at Hummer Sports Park.
The game went to a shootout after two scoreless 10 minute overtimes following a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation. The drama, the suspense, the importance of the victory was not lost on the Broncbuster players or their second-year coach Stephen Gorton.
"It's incredible to beat these guys," Raines said. "We've held them up as the team to beat. We've never beaten them so this is really big."
The victory puts the 7th-ranked Busters (17-1-1) into this Saturday's Region playoff against the winner of Friday's Jefferson (Mo.) College-Laramie (Wyo.) College playoff. Both games will be played at Memorial Stadium. Game times have yet to be announced.
For the fourth-year program, the victory becomes even more impressive considering the Busters played the final 11:30 of the second half and both overtimes a player short. Sophomore forward Mario Ojeda was given a red card when he ran into Barton goalkeeper Donovan Dowling, inside the goalkeeper box.
"We started playing more our game in the second half and just hung in there," said Daniel Martinez, who scored the deciding penalty kick just before Raines blocked Barton's final kick. "I looked (Dowling) right in the eyes and I felt like he was going to go to the right so I went left. It's all just instinct and guessing for the goalie."
Raines said the team had put in extra practice last week for penalty kicks just in case the situation arose.
"You just try to pick out the right place to go and get lucky," Raines said of his block of Skyler Schwartz's final penalty kick. "This time it just turned out good."
Gorton saw his team struggle offensively much of the game as Barton outshot the Busters 22-8 and had a 7-2 deficit on corner kicks. Raines made five saves, compared to just one for Dowling. At the 25:30 mark of the first half, Barton missed a penalty kick from the left line which went wide left of the net and then another missed opportunity at the 14:30 mark when a side kick hit the goal post on the far side and bounced right back into the hands of Raines.
Barton kept the pressure on Raines but missed a penalty kick at the 23:20 mark of the second half and another at the 22:35 mark. It was another missed chance at the 16:20 mark when a Cougar shot went wide left of Raines.
"Thank God for (Raines)," Martinez said. "He played with a lot of heart and we needed that big time."
After a scoreless first half when the Busters were holding on and a headwind of about 15 miles per hour, Barton scored first on a Marcelo Carminatti goal when his shot hit the post, then bounced back into the net at the 44:32 mark. It stayed that way for 30 minutes until sophomore scoring leader Steve Shaw knotted the score for the Busters when he took the ball down the right center of the field, slipped past one Barton defender and headed to the goal area. With the Cougar defender closing in, Shaw fired off a shot that went under of Dowling and into the net, making 1-1 at the 12:40 mark. Barton did keep up the offensive pressure and missed a potential game-winning shot with 40 seconds left when Raines leaped high to grab the ball before a head shot could be made.
"I've felt all along that we have two of the best goalkeepers in the country (Raines and Cesar Aguilar) and today proved just that," Gorton said. "I can't say enough about how Chris played today. He separated himself and is definitely one of the best goalkeepers in the country."
Aguilar had been equally impressive in Saturday's 3-2 semifinal win over Allen County when he only gave up two penalty kicks.
"This is one of those games where it's awesome when you win and you feel bad when you lose," Gorton said. "It's one and you're out. We were fortunate to get the momentum swinging our way and we had players stepping up in so many ways."
For Shaw, the chance to move on to the next round with an opportunity at nationals is a big motivator. The sophomore, though, was glad he wasn't in the mix of taking penalty kick shots for his team.
"This is amazing to be where we are," Shaw said. "On the goal, I knew I had to make a split-second decision so I just ripped it. My teammates came through big on the penalty kicks. During practice, I just didn't feel like I could take them and if you don't believe 100 percent that you're going to be successful, then you shouldn't put yourself into that situation. I'm glad they were kicking them instead of me."
Jefferson College (Mo.) is 19-3-0 and ranked fifth nationally. Laramie is 12-4-2 and unranked.
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Barton County 0 1 0 0 -- 1
Garden City 0 1 0 0 -- 1
(Garden City won on penalty kicks, 4-3)
Second Half
1, Barton County, Carminatti, 44:32
2, Garden City, Shaw, 12:40
First overtime -- None.
Second overtime -- None.
Penalty Kicks
Barton County 3 -- Narvaez, G; Hurdle NG; Newman, G; Patzner, G; Schwartz, NG.
Garden City 4 -- Argreda, G; Caba, G; Leo, NG; Zuniga, G; Martinez, G.
Game stats
Shots -- Barton, 22; GCCC 8. Saves -- Barton 1, GCCC 5
Yellow Cards -- GCCC, Ojeda, 2nd half, 18:35; Barton County, Patzner, 1st half, 27:33.
Red Cards -- GCCC, Ojeda, 2nd half, 11:30.
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