THE St John's College open boys soccer team has fallen agonisingly short of a place in the Combined Catholic Colleges (CCC) Knockout semi-finals after losing to Good Samaritan Catholic College Hinchinbrook in a penalty shoot-out last Friday.
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The Hinchinbrook team was an extremely impressive and well-prepared squad but St John's went into the match confident as it was the third time in four years the team has made it to the quarter-finals stage.
The Good Samaritan College boys were a very spirited group who played well from the first whistle. Both teams had plenty of chances in the first half and St John's were keen to show the attacking prowess which had seen them cruise through the early rounds of the competition.
A second yellow card to one of the Good Samaritan players resulted in a red card, reducing the Sydney team to 10 men and seemed to lifted the boys from St John's into the game.
Towards the end of the first half St John's were awarded a penalty outside of the box where Joel Steward stepped up to take the kick. While his effort was on target and dropped by the keeper, no St John's players were there to slot it in.
In the second half a defensive error saw the Sydney boys go very close to putting one in the back of the net but the defensive efforts of Nathan Desopito, Cameron Kopp and goalkeeper Toby Spora saw the home side keep their clean sheet intact.
At full-time the game finished nil-all and the two teams went into extra time. During extra time the St John's boys raised the bar and numerous players were at their maximum.
A great build-up through the midfield saw Jonty Busch, Jake Grady and Kobe Rapley push the ball up the park to put pressure on the opposing team but both defences held firm. The full-time whistle blew and it was still nil-all, meaning the match would be decided by penalties.
The St John's boys eventually lost the dreaded shootout 4-3 with it coming down to the last kick of the game.
Coach Luke Carter admitted after the match he had coached a lot of the boys and watched them play football outside of school on the weekends during the past 10 years.
One thing which amazed him was how St John's College students always seem to lift so much to match players of such high and professional standards.
He added the players should all be so proud of what they had achieved and all the parents and players deserved a big thankyou for giving their time and money and allowing the students to participate in these great opportunities.
