Guiseppe Barone hesitated at first. It had been his play that led directly to a handball in the box and a penalty kick for Archbishop Molloy in the 32nd minute. But he didn’t immediately jump at the spot. Teammate Mike Rodriguez had to give him a little prodding.
“Mikey told me to take the shot since I was part of the reason they took a penalty,” Barone said. “I was feeling pretty confident. I just shot it and it went in. When I got up there, I just tried to clear my mind and not get nervous because I’ve missed penalty kicks like this before.”
Barone beat goalkeeper Chris Nolasco up high and the PK score would hold up as the game-winner in Molloy’s 2-1 victory over Christ the King in CHSAA Class AA boys soccer Tuesday at Juniper Valley Park.
“[Barone] stepped up in a big spot and chose to take the shot,” Stanners coach Andy Kostel said. “It means he wants to take the shot, which is a good thing.”
While the Stanners ended up prevailing, Kostel says they still have a lot of work to do. Molloy (1-0-2) tied Holy Cross and rival St. Francis Prep to begin the season last week.
“There are issues we have to deal with,” he said. “We can’t keep dribbling the ball so much, we have to deliver the ball faster. I want to get more dangerous.”
The Stanners started the scoring in the 23rd minute when Rodriguez deflected a loose ball past a diving Nolasco to give his team a 1-0 lead.
The advantage would be short-lived, however, as two minutes later freshman forward Juan Obregon broke free and scored past a lunging Stanners keeper Ryan Vesey to tie the game at 1 for Christ the King (2-1-0), which had been the only team in the league with a perfect record.
On Obregon’s goal, the ball was shot through a hole in the bottom center of the net, causing confusion as the linesman signaled for a goal kick before referee George Makaroudis ruled it a goal.
“To be honest, I thought the kid was offside,” Kostel said. “The linesman didn’t put his flags up and called for a goal kick before the referee said it was in. He told me there was a hole in the net. These nets really should be checked before a game.”
The goal would stand until the Stanners took their final lead seven minutes later. While Molloy won on a penalty kick, Kostel noted that it’s not a play the team is focused on practicing right now.
“The priority right now isn’t taking penalty kicks,” he said. “[Barone] scored on a very well-taken shot and I’ll eventually have to throw other guys in to see who else can take penalty kicks. But for now our focus is on everything else. Our confidence comes from how we play.”
After a thrilling penalty kick win, the confidence for the Stanners is slowly building up. The Royals, on the other hand, were not pleased with the result.
“I thought we played well and at least deserved to tie,” Christ the King coach Ovid Cusu said. “Their goals came from a lucky bounce on a deflection and they scored on a penalty kick and we lose. I thought we played the better game, but we lost. That’s soccer.”