Goalkeeper Keyes De Smet's Champions League semifinal win over Liberty in penalty kicks
LAKE ST. LOUIS — Penalty kicks don't normally favor the goalkeeper. But De Smet's Jackson Keyes isn't your typical goalkeeper.
Before high school, Keyes was a soccer field player and feels that gives him a little more insight into PKs than the typical goalkeeper.
"I feel my experience as a non-goalie gives me a little bit of an edge in PKs,'' he said. "I tend to watch the eyes and hips, like most keepers, but a lot of guys try to make things obvious. They want the goalie to think they're going one way when they're really going in the opposite direction.
"It's basically a guessing game and tonight, I felt like I had a little inside knowledge. It turned out to be an amazing night."
Keyes came up with stops on three of five Liberty PKs, allowing the visiting Spartans to come away with a 4-3 victory in the semifinals of the inaugural St. Louis High School Champions League boys soccer tournament.
With the win, De Smet, ranked No. 1 among Post-Dispatch large schools, improved to 14-3-1 and advanced to take on No. 2 St. Dominic (15-2-1) in the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Creve Coeur Soccer Complex. St. Dominic beat CBC 6-0 in Wednesday's other semifinal match.
"We're excited about getting a chance to make a little history,'' De Smet coach Josh Klein said. "Tonight, Liberty gave us all we could handle, but I'm proud of the way our guys fought and battled through."
De Smet, which beat visiting St. Dominic 1-0 in a regular-season match on Sept. 30, jumped on Liberty with a goal just over a minute into Wednesday's semifinal game when Dominic Nicoletti lofted a ball into the box and Sean Sossou scored on a header.
The lead went to 2-0 with about 10 minutes to play before halftime when KJ Tyehimba scored after some setup work by teammates Landon Weber and Sossou.
Liberty (12-2) got a goal back less than two minutes later when De Smet was called for a handball in the box. Gavin Moyers converted the penalty kick, cutting the Spartans' halftime advantage to 2-1.
De Smet regained the two-goal cushion early in the second half with an end-to-end goal that started with defender Brady Smith playing the ball back to Keyes, whose long ball to Zach Costello was moved quickly to Landon Weber, whose strong run drew Liberty goalkeeper Aidan Brown out of position for Jack Saladin to score into the vacated net.
But again, the Eagles responded quickly. Less than a minute after De Smet went up 3-1, Liberty's Dylan Handlan played a free kick into the box, where Cooper Ludwig flicked in a header to make it 3-2.
Liberty, which hadn't lost since opening the season Sept. 3 with a 4-0 defeat at Francis Howell, pulled even at 3-3 on a counter-attack goal with just under 11 minutes left in regulation after Ryan Sinclair scored after a give-and-go with Handlan.
Early in the first 10-minute OT period, De Smet's Nicoletti picked up his second yellow card and was ejected, leaving the Spartans to play the rest of the way a man down. Later in that first OT period, Liberty's Corey Lynch was robbed on a point-blank stop by Keyes.
"I thought the game was over,'' Liberty coach Tony Luedecke said.
Keyes added: "Pure instinct, I guess. On plays like that, I usually blank out and try to make myself as big as possible. Luckily, I got a hip on it."
In penalty kicks, the Spartans outscored Liberty 3-2 with successful attempts from Landon Weber, Saladin and Gavin Weber. Corey Lynch and Handlan converted PKs for Liberty.
"I'm not a fan of PKs, but I'm really happy for Jackson. He was the difference tonight," De Smet coach Klein said. "And I'm proud of our team and the way they found another gear to push through. In all honesty, I don't feel like we've played a poor game all season, but I feel like coming away with a win like today after being a man down and all, it shows me that we're postseason-ready, that we can do whatever it takes to get by another top-level opponent."
Luedecke said he'd give his players about 30 minutes to put the tough loss behind them.
The Eagles, you see, are also competing for the GAC Champions Cup final, which will be played 6 p.m. Thursday at Timberland High against the Wolves (11-3-1).
"I know our guys are upset, but you can't win 'em all,'' he said. "Down 2-0, it would've been real easy to let down tonight. But we didn't do that. We fought back against a really good De Smet team and I'm proud of them for that. Hopefully we can put this one behind us and bounce back strong (Thursday) at Timberland."
