Thirty seconds. That was all the time that junior forward Tarnue Tyler needed to clinch the win.
Rocketing the ball past the goalie into the bottom right corner of the goal, Tyler scored the game winning goal against the Rolla High School Bulldogs with 20 seconds to spare in overtime.
Defeating RHS with a score of 2-1, RBHS improved its season record to 8-11-2. Senior forward Joey Koetting said that although the team ended up with a win, the fact that this game was a continuation of a game earlier in the season threw them off.
“The team started off slow,” Koetting said. “It was a little weird starting off halfway through the first half because of lightning earlier in the season. Once the second half came around we were playing better, but we couldn’t seem to get a shot on target and conceded a goal. In overtime, we controlled the game and got a winning goal with less than 30 seconds left.”
In the 64th minute of the game, the Bulldogs managed to score their only goal of the game, sneaking the ball past sophomore goalie Wilson Fitzgerald. Rolla had few chances to score again after that, with every shot on target being stopped by Fitzgerald, who even went airborne over a Rolla forward in order to save a shot that would have surely been a goal.
RBHS, however, increased the pressure on the Bulldog goalie, producing many scoring chances. Stellar effort from the RHS goalie forced many of the shots off target, and the rest were saved.
The RBHS offensive culminated in the 77th minute with a 30 meter free kick that was just shy of a goal, flying less than a foot wide of the left goalpost. RBHS dominated the pitch after being scored on, racking up more than 10 shots against RHS in less than 20 minutes. However, only three of those shots were on target.
“We struggled to find our intensity throughout the game and it took a goal from Rolla for us to recognize that we needed to wake up,” Senior defender Nicky Baird said. “We played a lot better after the goal, but we still have a lot of work to do for this upcoming game against Jeff City tomorrow. We need to start getting our shots on target and pass to each others’ feet.”
A yellow card on the captain of RHS in the 81st minute set the tone for the rest of the game. RBHS commanded the game in overtime, but inaccuracy again plagued the team. Shot after shot missed the goal, and it seemed as if the game would go into a second overtime. However, Tyler finally managed to break the seemingly impenetrable wall that was the RHS goalie, leading RBHS to victory.
The Bruins take on Jefferson City at home tomorrow at 5 p.m. in a pivotal district match-up that could hold serious implications for seeding in the district tournament.
By Derek Wang
