Kinnelon ousted on penalty kicks

On a night that reminded everyone that winter was approaching, Kinnelon and Harrison battled for 100 minutes in their Group 1 semi-final game and even that wasn’t enough. Forced to go to a shootout, Harrison moved on by virtue of a 5-4 advantage in the penalty kick phase of the game and goes on to play South River Saturday afternoon. For the Colts they will have to be content with their record setting season that included the program’s first sectional title.
The game did not begin well for Kinnelon as Harrison was quicker to the ball and was getting more opportunities, none of which materialized either because they were caught in the Colt’s offside trap, or goalkeeper Eric Makinen made one of his many outstanding plays in the net. As the game went on Kinnelon began to get more and more confident that they could stay with Harrison, a school that has won over twenty Group titles. The first half ended with out a goal scored but the sense that Kinnelon was about to take over control of the game was palpable.
The second half Kinnelon did have the better of the play. They continued their offside trap, frustrating Harrison to no end. Still, they were unable to generate a consistent attack of their own. Their best chance came with about 22 minutes remaining in the game. Terence Hausser sent in a corner kick that fell to the ground and was sitting near the goal line waiting for a Kinnelon foot to knock it into the net. No one was able to and Harrison recovered and cleared the ball out. Then late in the game Kolben Pritchard attempted a direct kick that bounced around in front of the net but none of his teammates was able to get a clear shot at it.
Both overtimes were just like the rest of the game; Harrison continued to hit long balls into the Kinnelon zone only to have Makinen get to the ball and clear it out before the Blue Tide could descend upon it. No one wanted penalty kicks but it certainly looked as though that would be the only way the outcome would be determined.
In the first round of penalty kicks Harrison led 3-1 but scores by Hausser and Pritchard forced a second round that is a sudden death format. Bryan Aguilar and Diego Diaz, the Harrison Goalie, converted their shots in the next round and Pritchard scored for Kinnelon but Hausser’s shot was stopped by Diaz to give Harrison the win and sent Kinnelon home.
Head Coach Nick Stokes told his team that he did not want to see any sad faces on any of his players. He told them what they needed to remember was that for 100 minutes they played with, and at some points better than Harrison did. He reminded his team that no one expected them to be where they were and that they need to be proud of what they have done to revitalize the program. He also said that they were not beaten in a game of soccer; that penalty kicks are like a lottery; no one knows how the outcome will come out.