Wednesday, Sep. 01, 2010

Penalty kick lifts Clayton by West

In a match filled with back-and-forth defensive battles, one key save, a field-flipping pass and an untimely bad break all combined to give Clayton a chance to retain the JUSA Cup. The Comets beat West Johnston 1-0 Thursday night to advance to the championship match against North Johnston.

Dustin Tart's penalty kick with 5:58 to play wrapped up a six-minute stretch that saw things swing just enough in the Comets' favor to get the deciding goal.

With 13 minutes to play, West's Patterson Towles got a chance to open the scoring when Clayton goalkeeper George Sainz blocked Towles' shot and it ended up in front of a Wildcats' player about 10 yards from the goal.

But Sainz hustled back and made a diving stop of the shot. Two minutes later, Sainz came up with another save that helped start the run that eventually ended up with Tart standing on the penalty kick line.

"Georgie [Sainz] started the whole thing for us with just a great save," said Clayton coach Tommy Gruhalla. "They had a great chance but he stopped them. With the short bench we're dealing with right now, that was the burst we needed to get going."

Clayton got the ball into its offensive third with a 60-yard cross-field pass from Matt Bagley to a wide open Phil Addis. West goalie Cody Livingston came out hard to meet Addis near the 18-yard box and made a diving save.

The Comets, however, kept the pressure up with a 20-yard blast following that Livingston had to punch away from the goal. The ball remained in front of West's goal, however, and the next shot caught the upper arm of a West player in the box.

The ensuing penalty kick saw Tart drive the ball into the left corner of the net.

The match was filled with back-and-forth action between the penalty areas but each sides' defense consistently kept the ball out of dangerous scoring areas.

"Our defense is built around Dustin Tart and he did a great job of leading our defense," Gruhalla said. "Sophomore Raphel Torres, a young and up-and-coming player, really stepped up for us as well."

The Wildcats had the better of the scoring chances in the first half.

"I really liked the way the guys played," said West coach Kenneth Sweat. "This is the best team shape we've played with all season. We got a tough break but we played really well."

Sweat praised the play of defensive leader Drew Powers on the back line and Trey Andrews and Dakota Morgan in leading the Wildcats' offensive push.

"We had a lot of opportunities in the first half, better quality chances," Sweat said. "We would have loved to have converted some of those. But, overall, I'm still really proud of my team."

The Comets' win set up a finals match (which was played Tuesday) against former Clayton head coach John Asmussen, who is in his first year as North Johnston's head coach.