On a cold and windy night Tuesday night the boys soccer team defeated Des Moines Roosevelt Roughriders 1-0 after two extra time periods when attacker Evan Kilstrom ’20 scored the game-winning goal with 1:34 left to play in the match. The boys dominated the entire match and they had quite a few chances to take the lead throughout the game but were not able to capitalize on the chances they created until Kilstrom’s goal late on.

Early on Roosevelt had a few chances to score with the first coming in the 8th minute when had a golden opportunity to take an early 1-o advantage but they missed an absolute sitter just wide of the right post. Then in the 21st minute, they had rocket shot blocked by defender Cooper Peddicord ’20 that went out for a corner kick.

After Roosevelt’s brief spell of dominance, the boys took over with midfielder Sam Swift ’20 pulling the strings starting in the 25th minute, when Swift delivered a great cross from a free kick and Mike West ’20 had a free header in the box but he the saw the shot go just wide of the post. Ten minutes later in the 34th minute, Swift hit Kilstrom with a lovely long pass from midfield, Kilstrom got by the defender however the onrushing goalkeeper collected the ball off his foot before he could take a shot. Just under a minute later the boys regained possession and Erik Catus ’19 weaved through a couple of defenders and took a shot from outside the box that went just wide of the post.

Just before the half, the boys had to deal with a bit of danger from the Roosevelt attack. It started when a Roosevelt attacker whipped in a dangerous cross from the right side that goalkeeper Brock Beckman ’20 had to save and force out for a Roosevelt corner. On the ensuing corner, Roosevelt had another great opportunity with Beckman being called into action again after a great header from Roosevelt. The boys cleared the ball from their half of the field and they went into halftime with the score 0-0.

The boys started the half well getting multiple opportunities starting with an almost penalty in the 44th minute, after it seemed like Swift was brought down in the penalty area, however, the referee decided that it was not enough to give a penalty to the boys. A minute later Peddicord won the ball back and broke down the right side of the field and whipped in a low cross into the boss that got past a pair of Roosevelt defenders and arrived at the feet of attacker Joey Reyes ’19 who unleashed a rocket shot into the top right corner that was brilliantly saved by the Roosevelt goalkeeper.

In the 47th minute, Roosevelt broke forward and after a shot that was spilled by Beckman however, he recovered in before a Roosevelt player could reach it, however, Roosevelt players wanted a penalty for handball after they thought he possessed the ball outside of the penalty area. The referee consulted the line judge and they decided that Beckman had controlled the ball inside the box and that it was not a penalty.

The next 20 minutes of play did not provide much action as both sides were stuck in a gritty battle in midfield. Central defenders Matt Morris ’19 and Colin Rodine ’19 were a formidable duo making life very hard for any Roosevelt striker that was thrown at them by being extremely physical including when Morris caught up to a breakaway Roosevelt attacker and muscled him off the ball in the 69th minute. Later in the 74th minute, that same attacker broke away from Morris again and this time Morris forced him to ground cleanly in the penalty area stopping a potential disaster scenario.

After the end of regulation, the score was still 0-0 so both teams tired from a tough physical game went into the sudden death extra time.

Four minutes into the first extra time period the boys got a corner that was taken by Peddicord who delivered a fantastic cross into the box that reached the head of Catus and the ball rattled off the crossbar in what had been the best opportunity for the boys to score in the whole game. The rest of the extra time period was uneventful and after the period the score was still 0-0.

The second extra time period started very uneventfully and it seemed like the match was going to go to penalties when with two minutes to go in the extra time period a Roosevelt corner was cleared out to Dominic Ford ’20. Ford drove through midfield and delivered a beautiful pass to Kilstrom who drove into the box and did a chop to get the ball onto his right foot and lashed a shot into the bottom corner of the goal. The boys proceeded to mob Kilstrom in the middle of the field as he had just scored the game-winning goal and his second goal of the season.

The boys moved to 2-2 on the year after the win and their next home game is against Des Moines Hoover on Apr. 16.