Boys soccer: Ottawa tops La Salle-Peru in penalty kicks

LA SALLE – Joan Gutierrez kicked the ball into the lower right corner of the goal, sending his teammates rushing onto the field in celebration.

Gutierrez’s goal sealed a 4-3 penalty kick win for the Ottawa boys soccer team over La Salle-Peru in an Interstate 8 Conference game at the L-P Sports Complex.

“We felt amazing,” Ottawa sophomore Jorge Lopez said about seeing Gutierrez’s shot hit the back of the net. “It was exciting.

“We were just focusing [during the penalty kicks]. We were like, ‘We’re going to win this game. We’re going to win this game.’ And we did, so we’re happy.”

The Pirates took a 3-1 lead at halftime, but the Cavaliers rallied to force penalty kicks.

In the first set of kicks, each team made four of five to send the game to another round of five kicks.

The Cavs missed their second PK wide right, and Ottawa keeper Brady Wendt made a diving stop on L-P’s third attempt.

The Pirates made their first three PKs to set up Gutierrez’s winner.

“The guys just stayed focused, and they hit their spots,” Ottawa coach Kevin Olesen said. “That’s all we stress.

“I love playing L-P. They have such a quality program that it’s nice to come over here and play like ability. Getting the win tonight was good for us because we’ve lost a couple close ones, so it’s nice to get back in the win column.”

Ottawa got on the board first in regulation when Lopez took a through ball from Michael Bedolla and put it over the keeper’s head in the eighth minute.

The Cavs responded 19 seconds later with a goal from Giovanni Garcia.

L-P controlled possession for much of the first half, but the Pirates capitalized on their chances with two more goals.

Lopez knocked in a rebound with 11:29 left in the half, and a little less than two minutes later, Lopez stole a goal kick and found the back of the net for a third time.

“I was aggressive,” Lopez said. “Every single game I try to score.”

After halftime, the Cavs continued to dominate possession and managed to come back to tie the game.

Jason Curran fired a shot into the upper corner from the top of the box to pull the Cavs within one with 35:49 left, and Brayan Gonzalez scored the tying goal with 18:40 left.

“They got a couple nice goals on us, but overall, when it comes to possession, we dominated the ball,” L-P coach David Spudic said. “It’s just working on consistency and doing that throughout the full game.

“In the second half, we controlled the ball for most of the half. We were patient with the ball. Took a few touches. Distributed. All the simple basics.”

The Pirates improved to 5-3-1 overall and 2-2 in conference, while L-P fell to 3-5 and 0-4.

“I thought at times we played pretty good and controlled soccer,” Olesen said. “Other times we played a little bit on our heels. L-P came at us with a good, intense game plan and they moved the ball really well and they took possession away from us and reestablished control of the game. We were kind of reactive a little bit more than I would like to have been, but we were able to find the back of the net, which hasn’t always been the case this season.”