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Penalty kicks spare Gators from defeat

Land O'Lakes keeper Greg Kline shuts down Plant to help the Gators advance.

By JEREMY RASMUSSEN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001

TAMPA -- Those who do not follow soccer might think a scoreless tie is boring.

Land O'Lakes' thrilling 3-0 penalty-kick win over Plant in the Region 3 quarterfinal Thursday was anything but.

Gator goalie Greg Kline, who came up with big saves throughout the game, did not have to make any during the shootout. Three of Plant's kickers pushed their shots wide while Kline, Justin Read and Eric Bossardt-Martin all connected for the Gators. In the first half, neither team appeared very patient as each tried to go for the quick strike rather than controlling the ball.

"We usually don't play that way," Gator coach Mark Pearson said. "But it was a horrendous field, and much shorter than we're used to. For the most part, it looked pretty ugly. But I'll take an ugly win any day."

The best chance for Land O'Lakes (25-4-1) came when Bossardt-Martin went high for a header, but Plant goalie Ryan Agostinis was able to tip it away. Agostinis filled in admirably for Loren Shumard, who was serving the second of a two-game suspension for a red card he received in the district semifinals.

In the second half, Plant (12-3-1) began to get more pressure, but couldn't break through Kline. He tipped a hard shot by Chris Cheek over the crossbar in the 60th minute, then stonewalled a Bobby Boswell shot from 12 yards out in the 70th minute.

Kline stopped shots by Scott Metzler and Cheek in each of the first two overtime periods. In the second sudden-death overtime, Boswell had a shot hit off the crossbar and Metzler's follow was cleared off the goal line by Keith Strand.

"I felt we controlled the game, but we just weren't finishing," Plant coach Dennis Derflinger said. "We wanted to pressure the ball and force them into bad passes, which we did. But against a quality team like this, you have to put away your chances."

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