Whitley: Pirates produce heroic effort

It was a moment that certainly didn't go unnoticed by the coach.

After fighting tooth-and-toenail for nearly 100 minutes, the play that might have rewritten a season occurred in two-part harmony.

The goals were as rare as a UFO sighting. Pine Tree had applied offensive pressure most of the evening, but to no avail. The Pirates took 21 shots, nine of which were on goal, while the Lindale Eagles had five tries at the net and six misfires the entirety of the contest.

"It was a typical soccer game that was set up for an upset," said veteran PT boss Andre Lo. "I think, ultimately, it was hats off to the players. They stepped up and made the plays."

No play typified the never-say-die, never-surrender attitude of Lo's squad better than when senior captain Brenan Alley came up with the save of the night. That is, unless you factor in Alejandro Castillo's save of the game.

More on that later.

With 1:30 on the playclock, Lindale freshman midfielder Sam Cox worked himself into the box and was primed to deliver what would have been the game-winning goal. It was as if time stood still for the super-quick Cox, who lined up and delivered a right leg thrust that seemed destined to find the back of the net.

But somebody forgot to tell Alley, who interceded at just the right time. He couldn't have been any sooner and darn sure didn't need to be any later. His body rejected the Cox kick and the ball reversed course back toward the middle of the field.

With only 90 seconds left in the second overtime at the time of Alley's rescue, the all-but-terminal fate for Pine Tree was nearly delivered. There wouldn't have been a shootout. All that'd been left to do was shake hands with the victorious Lindale Eagles and board the bus back home.

"The very last play in the second overtime, my defender, number 18, a senior, refused to lose. And that makes all this happen," said Lo, who had roles reversed last year when his Pirates were a first-round causality in a shootout against Jacksonville .

Alley may have made the defensive gem, but he still had to hold his breath in the shootout. His leadoff free kick slide harmlessly off to the left and put the Pirates behind the 8-ball. Instead of hanging his head, however, Alley went back to the selected five-man shootout group confident they'd have his back.

It's moments like these that can define teams. They'll look back on a successful season and generally point to where the tide turned. This may very well have been the 2016 Pirate soccer team's watershed.

Lindale assumed a 1-0 lead following Alley's misfire. The Eagles held to a point advantage in the best of five kicks up until it was 3-2. Pirate seniors Juan Garcia and Fernando Magana successfully drilled kicks into the net, keeping their slim hopes attached, if only by a thread.

Up stepped Pine Tree senior midfielder Adrian Martinez, who delivered his kick into the lower left portion and passed a diving Justin Groves. The score was knotted at 3-all, but Lindale had the luxury of a one-kick advantage.

The Pirates needed Lady Luck to smile and she instead blew them a kiss. Eagle junior forward Uriah Shipman's try glanced hard off the top bar and back into the field of play. Suddenly, emotions and momentum shifted. The tide turned.

It looked effortless as Luke Yoder deftly slinked his kick by Groves and gave Pine Tree its first lead of the night at 4-3. Lindale's David Franke wasn't to be outdone as he shot a bullet that neatly found the left corner.

The game, now near three hours old, found itself fit to be tied. It would come down to the final kicks of Pine Tree's Allan Maceda and Lindale's Michael Moyer. Standing in the way would be Groves and Castillo, respectfully.

Both goalies played near flawless most of the night. Groves was challenged more as the Pirates logged a better than 3 to 1 shot advantage. But Castillo seemed to always have the answer when the Eagle flew. It's true, however, Alley saved his bacon in the second OT. Well, turnabout proved to be fair play as Castillo followed up after Maceda drilled the go-ahead kick.

When the loud thud resonated through the cold night air after Castillo formed a human barricade of Moyer's attempt, the customary dog pile ensued and Castillo found himself on the bottom of that pile.

It was all good. That moment had arrived. And make no mistake, Lo noticed. As did everyone else that watched the game.

(Email: gwhitley@news-journal.com: Follow George Whitley on Twitter: @GPigskinprof)