UNIVERSITY PLACE — The Port Townsend soccer boys came heartbreakingly close to moving on in the postseason, but it took a crossbar, an offsides call and dreaded penalty kicks to knock them out of the West Central District III 1A playoffs.
The Redhawks and Charles Wright played to a 0-0 tie at the end of regulation and overtime, sending the loser-out game to penalty kicks. The Tarriers outshot Port Townsend 5-3 in penalty kicks to move on.
“It’s hard to take,” said coach Robert Cantley.
The Redhawks outshot the Tarriers 12-5. They came close to a goal on a free kick in the first half when Ian Kjeldgaard’s shot hit the crossbar.
Cantley said there were several other Port Townsend shots that went just high or wide. Port Townsend was hurt when its senior midfielder and captain Zach Dempsey had to leave the game with a hip injury.
“That really changed the complexion of the game,” he said.
The Redhawks and Tarriers remained knotted up at 0-0 when the Redhawks scored an apparent goal in the final minute of the second overtime. However, offsides was called and the goal was disallowed.
That essentially sent the game to PKs, which Cantley said is “basically like a lottery.” Eli Lupton, Roland Donanberg-Platt and Kjeldgaard all made their penalty shots.
Pitching the shutout in goal was Nico Winegar, who had four saves.
“It was an outstanding season. The kids gave everything they had,” said Cantley.
The Redhawks finish their season 3-3 in league and 5-6-2 overall. That record is deceiving as three of those losses were all by one goal to Klahowya and the fourth was the PK loss to Charles Wright.
Playing their final match for the Redhawks were seniors Owen Scanlon, Dempsey, Kjeldgaard, Emil Makkula, Ben Mattern, Aiden Falge, Kuba Krol and Winegar.
