Home > Sports > Prep Extra > Soccer
Bookmark Us   •   Make Us Your Homepage

Lincoln East tops Southwest in shootout

Comments 18 comment(s)  
E-mail Story E-mail Story
Print Story Print Story
Share  Share
Text Size: 
Tools Sponsor

BY TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star

Thursday, May 01, 2008 - 09:49:34 am CDT

Skylar Fossberg couldn’t tell you with any certainty that the Lincoln East boys soccer team had qualified for the state tournament 15 years in a row. Or that since 1993, the Spartans had won 21 matches at state and captured five titles.

But what East’s senior keeper could tell you Wednesday was what to expect from each of Lincoln Southwest’s participants in a  shootout. Fossberg’s two saves, combined with his teammates’ four successful penalty kicks in overtime, allowed East to claim an improbable 4-3 win and yet another district title.

“We did our research,” said East coach Jeff Hoham, whose Class A eighth-ranked Spartans overcame a one-goal deficit three times just to extend the match.

Story Photo
Lincoln Southwest's Andrew Heckman (white) and Lincoln East's Cole Kilgore fight for position and the ball in first half action. (Ted Kirk)

Related Link(s):


Video: East tops Southwest

The Spartans’ last goal, a penalty kick from Justin Burns, came following a handball whistled against a Southwest defender in the 81st minute. And if that wasn’t frustrating enough, the Silver Hawks opened overtime with two excellent chances that Fossberg was able to save.

“We couldn’t finish,” Southwest coach Dan Carpenter said. “You can look and see at least a dozen opportunities in the scorebook where we had possession in front of the goal and didn’t convert.”

With a state tournament berth resting on penalty kicks — five a side — Fossberg gave East its first real advantage of the night by turning away the Silver Hawks’ first shootout try.

As the Spartans kept rippling the net, Fossberg knew that one more save could end it. He dove to his right, smothering the Silver Hawks’ hopes as his teammates jumped to their feet to celebrate the District A-6 title.

In avenging an earlier 1-0 loss, East (10-5) reached state with the youngest team in Hoham’s tenure.

“I don’t think there was a whole lot of pressure on our team,” Fossberg said. “We were the underdog.”

Southwest’s state-tournament hopes were reduced to earning the lone available Class A wild card. Entering play Wednesday, two teams — Millard West and Omaha South — were ahead of the Silver Hawks (12-3) in the Class A wild-card point standings.

Omaha South played its district final Wednesday. Millard West’s final is Thursday.

Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.


$1 Sunday Delivery - Subscribe Today!
Soccer > Back to Top of Story

Post Your Comment

Standards and Rules
All posts to JournalStar.com are subject to our Terms and Standards.
Your posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.
(optional)
   
Hide Comments Hide Comments   Newest First Newest First  
Dan wrote on May 1, 2008 6:56 am:
" It was pure luck and poor officiating that gave this East team the district title. Southwest dominated the game from beginning to each overtime. Two of the three goals scored in regulation came from poorly called situations. I sincerely hope SW gets the wild card nod so they can bring home the state title to Lincoln. Good luck SW, I guess you'll need it this time around. "

 Nathan wrote on May 1, 2008 8:32 am:
" No wild card for Southwest.... "

 NONPARTIAL OBSERVER wrote on May 1, 2008 8:50 am:
" I also was at the East/SW game and came away with a completely different view of the game. SouthWest always seems to have excuses for every loss they have. East wanted it more and played with much more heart. They deserved to win. Blaming the officiating is just another excuse as always. Congrats to East! "

 JB wrote on May 1, 2008 8:55 am:
" Sad to see Lincoln's best boys soccer team not make it to state. They out played East, but left it up to the thing I hate about soccer, the shootout. Great season Southwest. Go Southwest Girls! "

 msbacker wrote on May 1, 2008 9:57 am:
" it's funny how sw always has to complain about the refs and doesn't take the responsibility of not finishing when you have to. good luck at state east because luck is what you will need. "

 Ummm wrote on May 1, 2008 10:19 am:
" Are you kidding me SW had at least 5 golden opportunities to score if you cant finish those you don't deserve to go to state. It looked like the Spartan D step up huge and fought their way to the tourney. "

 class of wrote on May 1, 2008 11:35 am:
" People have always been hatin' on L. East, ever since the 1970's when we were a new school and dominated in football. Other schools always have been and always will be the L. East wannabes. Go Spartans. "

 Ken wrote on May 1, 2008 3:11 pm:
" Its sad when a team is 12-3, wins the Lincoln City Championship an cannot get into the State Tourney. Who in the hell devises this system and why is it allowed to continue? "

 III wrote on May 1, 2008 3:55 pm:
" I do want to add that both teams played their hearts out! Neben from SW is sick!!! The East Defense did a good job to contain him. The shots may not have gone in but you can't take that away from the Defense for doing their job. SW didn't get cheated in any way. The handling call in the box was perfect. Thats not an East point of view, thats a Referee point of view. Someone already said, " If you can't finish your not going to win" That how it is. Whether East got lucky or if you want to call it skill... But 1 thing to keep in mind "Consistent Luck is Skill" "

 Ryan wrote on May 1, 2008 3:56 pm:
" Welcome to the world of the NSAA. Do you follow other sports? Good teams get the short end all the time. "

 A face in the crowd..... wrote on May 1, 2008 4:08 pm:
" The best team did NOT win yesterday-just a team with some talent and a lot of luck. I realize you have to make goals to win and the calls on the field are always questionable but in a team sport where you leave the determination of a winner, soccer should never go to a shootout. It should be overtime periods and/or sudden death overtime but not a shootout where 1 player has to carry the weight of the whole team. The Hawks soared yesterday-watch out for them in the future! "

 msbacker wrote on May 1, 2008 5:06 pm:
" if you can't win your own district then you don't deserve to go to state. "

 Playoffs wrote on May 1, 2008 6:44 pm:
" The districts are designed much like state, the best team on that day wins. The higher ranked team does not always win in a playoff system. A prime example of this is what occured in March Maddness. For the first time in a long time all four 1's made it to the final four. Congratz to Spartans "

 Ken wrote on May 2, 2008 7:51 am:
" I'm not in anyway blaming the officials. I do agree that a team HAS to win their District to go to State. However, there is such a thing as a wild card. How did they not get into State? I will say again the NSAA needs to devise another system. This one sucks. "

 yay wrote on May 2, 2008 8:25 am:
" good luck at state sw...oh wait my bad Go East!!!!!!! "

 Hawk wrote on May 2, 2008 9:02 am:
" I would have to say the NSSA did a great job this year with the assigning of districts late. In theory it worked perfect. The problem Southwest ran into was that an Omaha underdog team beat a team in their district higher then them and the team that lost got the wild card (they were ranked higher then LSW) Look at the girls side, it worked flawless. All the teams that were projected to win their district did and the wildcard went to the next team in line. If you look at the points and point leaders in Class A girls 1-8 is going to State. Great job NSSA!!!!! "

 LIncoln Soccer wrote on May 2, 2008 11:25 am:
" Hawk--I'm not sure BellevueEast, Millard South or even Papillion-LaVista South would agree about girls districts; these schools were eliminated because the schools that are in west NE were assigned their own district and got a bid to state by winning a very weak district; NorthPlatte's points improved with district play but are they really a state level team?--give it some thought. But, I do agree it was a much better situation then last year when 3 top teams were in the dsame district. "

 Hawk wrote on May 2, 2008 1:58 pm:
" Do you really think Bellevue East who lost 7 games and lost to Kearney (your district in question) belongs at statet? You believe Millard South who did not even win 50% of there games-losing 9 belongs there? And Papillion Lavista lost 8 games at 50%? Come on soccer fan, I understand what your saying about throwing a district away to the west- North Platte won it and they have beaten Kearney and Bellevue East lost to them, the other teams are below that looks good to me. If they took the top 8 they would have gone anyway. Congrats to all the qualifiers and to the NSSA for a great year!!! "

Ads by Yahoo!

More Stories In Soccer

Event Calendar

July 2008
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31
More Events | Submit an Event