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There’s nothing like a little difference of opinion to kick off the boys soccer season.
It happened Tuesday night at North Rowan High School, where Cavs’ coach Vincent Connolly and East’s Pet Keovilay provided contradictory takes following North’s 1-0 victory in the Rowan County Tournament opener.
“The goal should not have counted,” Keovilay insisted. “I talked to the official but he refuse to look at the rule book. I will have to talk to my athletic director about what we can do.”
His frustration stemmed from a bang-bang play that produced the lone goal just six minutes into the match. It began when North midfielder Kevin Rutherford looped a long forward pass just beyond the East defense. Teammate Jordan Littleton beat everyone to the loose ball, but was promptly mugged by a trio of defenders some 16 yards from the net. The referee immediately whistled for a penalty kick.
“It was an aggressive play,” Connolly said after North earned a berth in tonight’s 7 p.m. semifinal against reigning champ South Rowan. “But generally, if you tackle a man from behind in the (penalty) box, you’re gonna get called for a PK.”
And Rutherford, North’s four-year starter, was the man Connolly wanted on the line. After taking a moment to calculate his strategy, Rutherford blasted a shot that sent East goalkeeper Bobby Parnell sprawling to his right for a magnificent save.
“I hit the ball really well,” said Rutherford. “But wow, what a save! That was a great play by the keeper.”
Now here’s where things got a bit frantic. Rutherford, reacting quickly, charged the net, pounced on the rebound and popped an uncontested shot into the unguarded left side.
“That’s not allowed,” said Keovilay. “The person that takes the penalty kick cannot kick his own rebound. Someone else has to touch it first, not counting the goalie.”
Connolly — and more importantly, the referee — begged to differ.
“The rule is if the goalkeeper touches it, then anyone can touch it. It’s a live ball,” Connolly explained. “If it goes off the crossbar or the post and no one touches it, then the guy who played it cannot touch it next. The official made the right call.”
Keovilay argued, waving his rule book from the sideline, to no avail. “That’s just kind of the way it goes sometimes,” said East midfielder John Norris. “You can’t argue with the ref.”
Rutherford said he was just following directions. “I’ve always been taught that if the ball’s there, you put it in the back of the net,” he said.
Camouflaged in the controversy was a terrific, though somewhat choppy, defensive battle. East’s Nick Anderson and Bobby Shepherd were solid backfielders while North’s Eric Rousseau, Kiel Jarrett and Adam Montieth made life easier for winning keeper Michael Hill.
“We’ve only had six practices but we’ve really been emphasizing defense,” said Rousseau. “We knew we couldn’t have any letdowns. We had to keep playing defense at a high pace.”
Most of the match was played in the congested center lane, with few outlet passes and sideline runs. North, after a ragged first half, managed an occasional second-half breakout, but squandered four scoring chances by going offsides.
“That’s something we’ll have to address,” said Connolly. “Most of those were balls that we held too long in the midfield or didn’t time our runs.”
East had two golden opportunities to tie the score in the second half. First came Sam Ketner’s 15-yard drive from the right side that Hill bobbled but recovered — just inches short of the goal line. Then with five minutes to play Nick Kalogeromitros — the one who is a freshman — got free in front of the net but floated a 12-yard shot over the cage.
“We played well but there’s lots of room for improvement,” said Norris, a four-year letterman. “They basically outplayed us and beat us to the ball. I wish we could have kept it out of the air more.”
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NOTES: Kalogeromitros shares a first name with his cousin, a sophomore forward. ... Hill made eight saves for North while Parnell stopped 12 shots. ... East returns to action Aug. 20 at Central Davidson. ... Tonight’s 5 p.m. semifinal pits West Rowan against Salisbury.
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