by JASON GORDON
The Hays boys soccer team won its first playoff game in more than five years with a thrilling 5-3 shootout victory over LBJ Tuesday night at Shelton Stadium. (Photo by Cyndy Slovak-Barton)
Luke Adams saved the Hays boys soccer team in regulation, and then he rocked Shelton Stadium in the shootout.
The Rebel goalkeeper helped give Hays its first playoff win in more than five years by stopping all four shots he faced against LBJ in a thrilling shootout.
Hays’ 5-3 victory helped it advance to play Lake Travis Friday night at a site to be determined.
After Adams made numerous key saves in both the first and second halves of regulation, which ended in a 2-2 tie, he was the unquestioned hero of the shootout period.
When he stopped LBJ’s final shot, he was mobbed by his teammates and Rebel coaches.
“I knew before that shot that if I blocked it I was going to get dog piled,” Adams said. “Once I knocked it away, I was ready.”
Hays looked to have the game won during the non-sudden death 20-minute overtime period preceding the shootout after Parker Thornton scored early on to make it 3-2.
But LBJ scored with just two minutes remaining as Cesar Santos bent it like Beckham on a free kick that curved around the Hays defense and off the crossbar and in to force the shootout.
In the shootout, Hays scored on its first two attempts as the two teams traded best-of-five shots.
Cody Taylor and Jared Herselman scored for Hays, while Adams denied shot after shot against LBJ’s shooters.
“Adams was phenomenal,” Hays head coach Jason Burnett said. “He made two great blocks in the first half, and several in the second half. And then to stop four straight shots in a shootout is very impressive.”
Hays looked like it was going to have an easy win against LBJ early on as Joe Garcia broke free and scored midway through the first half and Andrew Wristen followed with a long shot from near midfield that glanced off the head of a Jaguars’ player and into the net to put the Rebs up 2-0.
But LBJ came back with a Danny Guzman goal right before halftime, and then tied it at 2-2 on a Ben Bonner header five minutes into the second half.
Adams kept the Rebs in the game the rest of the way, with big saves to force OT.
