Usually reserved for the most pressure-packed moments on a soccer field, the penalty spot didn't seem to faze East Hamilton on Wednesday night.
The Hurricanes were perfect there in a comeback win at Ooltewah in District 5-AAA competition.
The game was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, and after a scoreless overtime, East Hamilton edged its crosstown rival 5-3 in a shootout.
"We're fortunate to have guys with experience and that want the ball in these pressure situations," Hurricanes coach Patrick Daverson said. "I think of guys like Saleem Handal, who's a senior this year and took the penalty kick in regulation and then scored the fourth one there at the end."
In regulation, Handal calmly sent the keeper the wrong way on a penalty shot to knot the score with 25:33 to play in the second half and give his team life. The Hurricanes had success early with crisp passing, but the Owls seemed to take control as the game wore on.
"We had about eight guys who went the entire game," Daverson said. "They played a full 120 minutes and then took PK's. You can't ask much more than that. That's a lot of work."
Ooltewah was first to strike with a first-half goal off the foot of Louis Ramirez. He was able to control a rebound and find the back of the net after his teammate lured the keeper off his line.
The Owls continued to press from there, but effective team defense from the Hurricanes and tough breaks off the framework sent the game into the extra session.
"A lot of opportunities didn't fall, but we created," Ooltewah coach Rick Adolph said. "I was happy to see our guys think like we've wanted them to and execute things we've worked on. In fact, the goal came off of something we've been working on, so that's good."
With just more than three minutes to go in overtime, Ooltewah's Darwin Martinez sent a long, looping cross into the box, where it was met with a strong header, but the Owls' would-be "golden goal" to win glanced off the right post and was cleared.
"We stayed strong all night and attacked well," Adolph said. "We just have to create more of those situations in practice so they have the confidence to finish in games. When they start to see some of the things we work on in games, they buy into it."
East Hamilton keeper Gabe Waters was active throughout, often thrusting himself into the action in the box to keep Ooltewah out of the net. He had four saves, including a diving stop in penalty kicks to help secure the win.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.