Highlanders Thrive with Underdog Roll

from lakeland ledger

HAINES CITY | One kick to the right and one kick to the left lifted Lake Wales to a district championship.

Katie McMullen and Neely Nelson scored the two decisive goals in a 3-1 shootout Friday night to give the Highlanders a 1-0 victory over Kathleen and the right to host a regional quarterfinal match Thursday.

"That was my first (shootout) as a coach and I don't like them," Lake Wales coach Ashley Cockrell said. "I just thought: 'Knees, don't give out on me.'

"At the end of practice we kind of played around (with penalty kicks) a couple of times out of curiosity, just to see who's comfortable with them.

" I don't know that anybody really spends a lot of time on it."

The game started at 7 p.m., but the scoring didn't start until about 9:15.

After 100 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Highlanders (10-9-2) missed their first two penalty kicks in the shootout and Kathleen led, 1-0.

Kim Maldonado tied it and Jaclyn Anderson made two saves to perserve the win.

"I told them I could do without that stress," Cockrell said. "They like to do that to me."