Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011

Burke, Pride win amid chaos

Confusion led to chaos. Then, the chaos led to a 15-minute delay. Throughout the entire delay, Leesville Road midfielder Simon Burke kept the soccer ball in his hands.

He was waiting and hoping - while never letting go of the ball - for a chance to end the match Wednesday night against a pesky Millbrook team looking for an upset.

After the referee reset the clock to five minutes left in the second half, both teams thought the match was headed to overtime once the scoreboard showed triple zeros. But the referee kept the match going, and Leesville Road forward Fernando Castellanos was tackled in the penalty box.

Burke followed with his game-winning goal coming off a penalty kick to give the Pride a bizarre 2-1 victory.

"I just thought the referee was going to send it into overtime," Burke said. "All of a sudden we had the penalty kick again. It was just crazy."

Once Leesville Road was awarded the penalty kick, Millbrook coach Matt Edwards showed his frustration after the referee allowed the match to continue past the already allotted time. Edwards said he told the referee his Wildcats were confused by the decision. At one point during the delay, the referee signaled the teams to their respective sideline.

That had Burke thinking the referee had acknowledged a mistake, which meant that both teams needed to prepare for overtime. However, when the referee made his decision, he ordered Burke to take the penalty kick with just 30 seconds left in regulation.

"You just hate it when the referee gets involved," Edwards said. "I don't think the refs were trying to do anything deliberately, but I thought I was right."

Leesville Road coach Paul Dinkenor didn't agree with Edwards, but he did say he had never experienced a delay like that in his 47 years of playing and coaching soccer.

"I think our kids did a good job of not going crazy," Dinkenor said. "I'm really proud of Simon. That's a lot of pressure because if he misses we go to overtime."

Before Burke won the match, Dinkenor said the sixth-ranked Pride (12-3-2, 8-2-2) played as poorly as they did in their first match of the season.

In the 66th minute, midfielder Branco Theis used his right foot to send in a low cross toward the net. Theis' pass was placed a few feet in front of Millbrook goalkeeper John Thibault. That allowed Burke to beat Thibault to head the ball into the net.

Millbrook (6-11, 4-7) tied the match just before the delay on a penalty kick from midfielder Alex Olofson.

Right before Burke took his penalty kick, he thought a similar situation last week when he was given a penalty kick against Wakefield when its goalkeeper received a red card that cause the match to be delayed, though not for 15 minutes.

"I put it in the exact same spot," said Burke, who placed his shot in the right corner of the net. "I knew if I did that I couldn't miss. I'm pretty happy I won the game right there."