Shootout shutout

Published 12:06 am Thursday, December 22, 2011

ERIC SHELTON | THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT — ACCS’ Hunter Lindsey, right, and Columbia Academy’s Trevor Dixon fight for the ball during their soccer match Wednesday afternoon at ACCS. The Rebels fell 1-0 in a penalty kick shootout.

NATCHEZ — The Adams County Christian School boys’ soccer team came into Wednesday afternoon’s division match with Columbia Academy with a record of 6-0 in MAIS Division II-South play.

But Columbia had something to say about the Rebels improving to 7-0 and fought ACCS to a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation. Neither team was able to score in the two overtime periods and the game came down to a penalty kick shootout.

Both goalkeepers, ACCS’ Dylan Galbreath and Columbia’s Trevor Taylor, were outstanding and did not allow a shot to hit the back of the net through the first three rounds of penalty kicks.

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Then Columbia’s Sam Hill stepped up to take his shot and was able to tuck a low line drive shot inside the left post to give Columbia a 1-0 lead.

After each team followed Hill’s goal with unsuccessful tries, ACCS senior Kevin Campbell stepped up to take the Rebels final attempt to tie the shootout.

Campbell had been injured early in the second half of the contest and was brought back in late in the second overtime to participate in the penalty kicks.

He approached the ball and connected with his right foot, but the shot sailed high and wide over the top-right corner of the goal and Columbia Academy secured the victory with a 1-0 win in the shootout.

“We work on (penalty kicks) at the end of every practice,” ACCS coach Jim Allgood said. “This will help them realize the importance of PKs. To lose 1-0 in PKs with five of our best shooters shows there is work to be done.”

Allgood said he felt that the Rebels came in over-confident Wednesday, because ACCS had already beaten Columbia once this season.

“Coming in 6-0 to start district and already having beat them 5-3 the first time, in my opinion we definitely committed the cardinal sin,” Allgood said. “I think the kids overlooked an opponent, and that very much showed in today’s game.”

ACCS scored the game’s first goal when forward Lester Wells found the back of the net midway through the first half.

Columbia answered just before halftime with a goal by Trevor Dixon.

Both teams had several scoring opportunities in the first half and the play was back-and-forth for much of the opening period.

Columbia Academy took control of the match early in the second half and was generating almost all of the scoring chances.

Those chances led Dixon’s second goal of the contest. Columbia’s Peanut Hill did most of the work on the scoring play, however, when he dribbled through a handful of ACCS defenders and dumped the ball off to Dixon for the goal.

The Rebels were down to their last few minutes before they began to generate chances to tie the game.

Minutes before the final whistle blew, Wells was able to get his head on a corner kick, and the ball found the back of the net to tie the contest.

The Rebels then controlled play in the overtime periods but were unable to find the winning goal.

Allgood said the swings in momentum were something his team could use to learn.

“We can’t wait until the half to start playing soccer,” Allgood said. “I think this was a good eye opener.”

Allgood said the Rebels were sloppy on offense at times, and that led to fewer scoring chances.

“We didn’t make good, sharp passes for our attack and it showed in our lack of offensive opportunities,” he said. “We needed that one more touch for better setups, and I feel that we rushed our offensive attack.”

Allgood said despite Wednesday’s loss, he is still pleased with where his team is at this point in the season. The Rebels fell to 8-3 overall and 6-1 in division play with the loss.

ACCS will have some time to lick its wounds before its next scheduled game Jan. 4 against River Oaks.