March 19, 2024

PCM girls end regular season with OT win

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MONROE — With two minutes to play in overtime, Prairie City-Monroe junior Abby Waddell got tangled up with a Chariton defender and fell to the ground inside the goalie box.

The original call on the field was that Waddell was fouled and the Mustangs were going to be given a penalty kick with the game on the line.

That ruling was later changed, and action continued with the game still knotted at 2-all.

Waddell did get one final chance at the game-winner. She received a pass from McKinzie Tjaden in position to score, and Waddell’s tap just in front of the net got past the goalkeeper and slowly rolled into the net.

The game-winning goal came with 5 seconds left on the clock. The win gives PCM some momentum heading into Thursday’s regional quarterfinal at Norwalk.

“I didn’t know there was 5 seconds left when the ball went in,” said Waddell, who added to her school record with her 17th goal of the season. “It seemed like at first it wasn’t a goal. I wasn’t sure they were going to count it. I was confused and then the ref blew his whistle, so I celebrated again.”

It was a little bit of justice for PCM coach Bill Sowder, who not only thought the officials’ decision to overturn the call that would have give PCM a PK late in the game was the wrong call, he also thought they missed a hand ball inside the box with about four minutes to go.

“I wish we had instant replay. Abby didn’t have her arm up whatsoever. That’s an excuse to not give a PK in that situation,” Sowder said. “That’s what it is. Most refs like to avoid giving PKs that decide games.”

The head official met with a side judge to discuss the play and then the official gave a lengthy explanation to Waddell about their decision.

“He said from his angle, I was behind the girl with my elbow on her back and then I laid off and then fell myself,” Waddell said.

Waddell scored the game-winning goal, but Tjaden was involved in all three of PCM’s goals.

Tjaden, a graduate of Colfax-Mingo, set up the Mustangs’ first goal off a corner kick. She perfectly placed the ball just in front of the net where junior Dakota Hostetter kicked it in. It was Hostetter’s fourth goal of the season.

That put PCM up 1-0 with 25:53 to go in the second half.

After the two teams scored one goal in the first 54 minutes, they combined to score three in a three-minute stretch that ended with the match tied at 2-all.

Chariton’s first goal came with 11:56 to play in regulation.

Tjaden answered two minutes later. She took a pass from senior Jessica Albright and drilled it to the far corner of the goal. It was Tjaden’s fifth goal of the season and Albright’s second assist.

“I haven’t had the best season with my outside shots, but my job as a middle midfielder is to get the ball to the forwards, and I feel like I do a pretty good job getting good passes to the outside,” Tjaden said. “As long as I can help everyone on the field. Everyone deserves to score goals. That was a nice pass by Jessica, too.”

The game remained 2-all until the final seconds of overtime.

Tjaden had no idea how much time was on the clock when she got loose in the middle of the field. She didn’t have the best angle to take the shot, so she sent the ball upfield where Waddell got it just past the Chargers goalie for the game-winner.

If there was any doubt about whether Waddell’s shot rolled far enough past the line, Hostetter was there to smash it in for good.

“I didn’t even look at the clock. I just wanted to score in 10 minutes like we did against Knoxville,” Tjaden said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get the angle for the goal because there was a girl right on me so I pushed it to the center praying that (Waddell) had followed me.

“At first I didn’t know if it went it. It rolled across the line and then Dakota kicked it so either way, we would have scored it somehow.”

The two teams played to a scoreless draw in the first half on a night when PCM honored its nine seniors before the match.

Sowder was happy with the win, but he wants his offensive players to be more aggressive and take more shots.

“I figured we’d start slow. We didn’t warm up like normal because we honored our seniors like we should,” Sowder said. “We controlled the game quite well, but we need to have more initiative on the shots. We aren’t aggressive enough. When we get up to the 18, we need to take the shot.”

The Mustangs (7-12) never trailed in the match but lost two different one-goal leads. The Chargers had three corner kicks in the final two minutes but failed to break the tie.

Chariton (10-4) had a 19-18 advantage in shots and a 10-9 advantage in shots on goal. PCM had a 5-4 surplus in corner kicks and was called for six less fouls.

The win for PCM gave the Mustangs a season split against the Chargers. Chariton (10-4) defeated a short-handed PCM team 2-0 back on May 12.

The Mustangs head to postseason play with a little bit of momentum. PCM opens the 2A Region 4 tournament at 5 p.m. in Norwalk (7-10). The game was originally scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

“They have a couple of good girls that we’ll have to mark up,” Sowder said. “They are physical. I think if we play like this and take more shots, I think we can come out on top.”