Bobcats beat Washington, 2-1, in OT

Posted

BROOKINGS – It took the Bobcats an extra 20 minutes to put Sioux Falls Washington away on Tuesday at Fishback Soccer Park.

Mohamed Ismail scored off Ulises Azuero’s setup with three minutes left in the first 10-minute overtime period and the ‘Cats held on for a 2-1 win over the Warriors in the first round of the SDHSAA playoffs.

Washington led 1-0 at halftime as Shodo Mahamed scored midway through the first half and it took the Bobcats nearly 28 minutes of the second to earn the equalizer.

Manuel Souto one-touched Brayden Mallett’s direct kick from just outside the 18-yard box past the Warrior keeper with 12:01 left to play in the game to level the score at 1-1.

Washington scored what appeared to be the go-ahead tally with 6:27 on the clock, but the goal was waved off on an offside infraction and neither team found the back of the net the remainder of the way.

The Bobcats held a 20-10 advantage in shots, including a 10-5 edge in shots on goal as Blake Brettshneider earned the win in net with four saves.

“Weather-wise, it was a great night for all of our 11 to be on the field for that last two sets of 10 minutes, so conditioning-wise, I felt really good about where we were,” said Bobcat head coach Steve Binkley. “We saw (Washington) subbing a lot in those final periods, and I knew I could count on my 11.

“We definitely out-shot them and out-possessed them – in this type of matchup, Washington likes to sit back and play defensively and then play for a big counter, so it was a little bit of a cat and mouse game in that respect. We had more opportunities, but maybe some of their opportunities are one-on-ones – the ball that they knocked in happened to be kind of a one-on-one situation where the wet grass caught up one of our players and they put it in.

“There was another moment in the game where they scored, and it was called back. I thought our guys were well composed after that; you go from thinking we might have lost this one to that feeling of momentum and hope. That carried us through that final 20 minutes – that was our second life and we made the most of it.”

On Saturday, Brookings travels to Sioux Falls to face Lincoln in a quarterfinal matchup at Howard Wood Field.

Play begins at 1 p.m.