Barstow reaches Missouri Class 1 state championship soccer game
The first four penalty kicks whipped past Barstow keeper Adam Maiale. He was ready for the fifth one — an attempt from Crossroads College Prep forward Andrew Kowalkowski.
In part of Barstow’s preparation for its first state-tournament appearance in 23 seasons, the coaching staff came across a quote from Kowalkowski in which he described his tendency to fake left and aim right on penalty kicks. When he tried the move Friday — in an effort to extend the penalty kicks to a sixth round — Maiale was already there waiting.
He stoned the shot, giving Barstow a 2-1 victory (5-4 in penalty kicks) in the Missouri Class 1 state semifinals at Blue Springs High School. The Knights will face Canton on Saturday for the Class 1 state championship.
“I held my line for as long as I could in case he was going to switch it up on me,” Maiale said. “But he went that way again. I just had to come up with the save.”
The penalty-kick save served as a form of payback for Maiale after Kowalkowski beat him for the game’s first goal in the 20th minute.
But Barstow, 13-9, dominated the second half and capitalized with Pedro DeCastro’s team-best 18th goal of the season. DeCastro sent home a long crossing pass from Arman Javaheri.
“We weren’t really awake in the first half. We played a little flat. We had a little attitude adjustment at halftime, and you could see the difference,” Barstow coach Scott Huppe said. “Like I’ve said before, we have all the confidence in the world with our team with our patience. (We) don’t panic. We’ve been successful with just staying calm.”
Barstow plays Canton in the championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Blue Springs.
Class 2: Perryville 3, St. Pius X 2
A steady progression within the St. Pius X boys soccer program has resulted in four trips to the Missouri state Final Four over the past seven seasons.
But a victory there remains elusive.
Perryville used a last-minute goal from Conner Stark to defeat St. Pius X 3-2 in the Missouri Class 2 semifinals Friday at Blue Springs.
The Warriors, who fell to 0-7 in the state tournament, were playing down a man after midfielder Christopher Theis was shown his second yellow card of the match with 3 minutes remaining in a tie game — a call St. Pius X adamantly protested.
Stark headed home a throw-in from Kyle Wood with 37 seconds remaining in the match.
“I hate for it to be decided like that,” St. Pius X coach Todd Ashby said. “I want it to be decided on the field by the players. It is what it is.”
That put a sour ending to a previously encouraging second-half performance from the Warriors, who fell behind 2-0 before battling back to tie the match.
Wood scored 80 seconds into the game to give Perryville a 1-0 lead, and he assisted on Matthew Moran’s goal to extend the lead to 2-0.
Theis started the comeback trail. His free kick with 2 minutes left in the half served as the kick-starter to a dominant second-half showing from the Warriors, who tied the game on Luis Rizek’s deep free-kick.
“I thought the guys played a great second half,” Ashby said. “We were putting pressure on them. I thought we had the momentum. I really thought we were going into overtime, and I thought we’d win it in overtime.”
St. Pius X plays Springfield Catholic in the third-place match at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Springfield Catholic fell to Soldan 2-1 in Friday’s other Class 2 semifinals match.
This story was originally published November 14, 2014 at 9:10 PM with the headline "Barstow reaches Missouri Class 1 state championship soccer game."