TRINITY — The Mitchell Mustangs suffered a 98th-minute heart-breaker after controlling the first 40 minutes of the match. Tied 3-3 through regulation and the first overtime, Winter Haven’s Paul Franz scored the golden goal with 2:33 left before the teams would have set up for penalty kicks, to win 4-3 and advance to Saturday’s Class 4A region semifinals.
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The Mustangs (19-3-4) were in control for much of the first half. They outshot the Blue Devils (16-4-2) and controlled the ball on their half, missing on some close shots. With 10 minutes left in the half, Franz drove deep into Mustang side only to have the Mustangs flip the field and Viraj Patel play a ball to Cody Pearn, who one-touched it and blasted it far post for a 1-0 lead. With four minutes left in the half, Pearn again got the ball in the Blue Devil 18 but was fouled, setting up a Patel PK that he buried high-middle.
Then things started to shift. In the last two minutes of the first half, Daniel Mirandare-directed the ball off a free kick to the bottom-right 90 to make it 2-1 into halftime. When the teams came out for the second half, Patel had dropped back to play defense and the Mustangs shifted and substituted to protect their lead. It allowed the Blue Devils to pressure the goal and create opportunities they hadn’t had in the first half.
"We expected (Winter Haven to ramp up the pressure in the second half)," Mustangs coach Oscar Ubillus said. "But we gave up too many set pieces and it came back to bite us."
With 20 minutes left in the second half, a set piece throw-in by Franz found the head of Kervens Jean-Louis, then glanced off a Mustang defender into goal for a 2-2 tie. The Mustangs struck back within two minutes off a corner kick played short by Patel to Jason Piurowski, then to Matt Smith who sent it low to the far post to make it 3-2 Mitchell.
"We were handling the game when that questionable call on the penalty kick came," Ubillus said.
With less than two minutes left in regulation, the Mustangs were whistled for a foul in the 18-yard box and Andrew McIntosh tied it 3-3 for Winter Haven.
The Blue Devils controlled the first overtime. The Mustangs controlled the second but with less than three minutes to play, Franz dribbled into the 18, inside of one defender, then a second Mustang defender fell, leaving Franz one-on-one with keeper Brett Howard and drove it into the bottom 90 for the golden goal and 4-3 win.
It was a heartbreaker after stellar defensive play from Adis Kukuljac and Austin Anahory. Kukuljac broke up a Franz run and cleared several dangerous balls out of the box, while Anahory got his body in front of several balls at the net, deflecting what would have been an easy goal, late in the second half.
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