CLARION — It was a game that both teams deserved to win. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way in sports.
The Bradford boys soccer team fell to DuBois in the District 9 Class AAA title game in a penalty kick shootout on Monday. After playing 80 minutes plus two overtime periods of scoreless soccer, the Beavers came out on top 4-3 in the shootout to put an end to the Owls’ season.
After splitting its two regular season meetings with DuBois, Bradford knew they were in for a tough match with a familiar opponent.
“It was an even matchup,” Owls coach Wes Lohrman said. “We know each other very well. Both teams have learned each other’s playing styles, especially this season. For it to go into OT and then penalties, it’s not a surprise, but it’s obviously not something we were trying to do.”
The game conditions likely had a lot to do with the absence of goals as well.
“Conditions were not ideal,” Lohrman said. “It was cold, rainy, slippery. The ball was skipping a lot.
“We felt we had a large amount of opportunities, but the ball spent a decent amount of time in the middle third of the field.”
A pair of Bradford’s best chances late in regulation came courtesy of Ian Grady, who made a couple of nice runs but, like every other player, was unable to capitalize.
After over an hour and a half of scoreless play, the game went to the dreaded penalty shootout. At this point, Lohrman knew he didn’t need to stress the magnitude of the moment to his players.
“I said, ‘There isn’t anything I can do to get you guys serious right now,’” he said. “Most of those guys haven’t been in that type of situation before. But they held their own; they did extremely well. All of our shots were on the frame of the goal. It wasn’t like we were missing the goal.”
Brent Kennedy, Grady, and Colton Swanson all scored for the Owls. But the DuBois keeper was able to make back-to-back saves to end the game, and Bradford’s bid for a district title.
Before he and his team exited the field, Lohrman wanted his players to take note of the DuBois players receiving their championship hardware.
“I pointed out to everybody to watch DuBois receive their medals,” he said. “It was a simple question: ‘How do you feel right now? If you feel like you’ve achieved everything you wanted, then this was a successful season.’
“But if you don’t like the way you feel right now, then we get back to work in November.”
