JBU men survive in PKs at nationals
COLUMBIA, Ky. — The John Brown University men’s soccer team survived a swing of emotions on Friday night at Walter S. Reuling Stadium, but connected on all five penalty kick chances to advance to the Columbia, Ky. Opening Round finals after a 3-3 double-overtime draw with No. 19 Southeastern (Fla.).
Jacob Zamarron, Oscar Carballo, Adrian Immel, Amilcar Gonzalez and Jessie Zavala each blasted home their respective penalty chances, while the Fire’s season ended after one opportunity was fired high over the goal, allowing the Golden Eagles (17-3-1) to continue its postseason journey.
John Brown was scheduled to play Opening Round host and national No. 5 seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) Saturday evening. Results were not available at presstime.
Behind goals from Zamarron and Carballo, John Brown (17-3-1) held a decisive 2-0 lead just eight minutes into the match.
Just 4 minutes, 22 seconds into the game, Carballo fed a pass into the box from nearly the goal line on the left side that trickled through the Southeastern defense right to the nation’s leading scorer. Zamarron took one touch to move the ball to his right foot and blasted his 25th of the season to the right corner of the goal to give the Golden Eagles a dramatic 1-0 advantage.
Just 2:46 later, the SAC Player of the Year was on the receiving end of a Gonzalez cross into the box from the right flank. Carballo stepped around a defender, and let go a lethal rip from the top of the box to the bottom right corner of the goal for his 20th strike of the season.
With the Fire (11-5-4) back on its heels, John Brown went for three. In the 32nd minute, Gonzalez put together a clinical strike from outside the box on the right side. The nation’s leading assist man shed a defender with a move into the middle and launched a leftfooted volley over SEU keeper Carlos Curado and under the post for his ninth tally of the year.
The goal scoring would end there, however, as the Fire reclaimed some life before the intermission. In the 42nd, Banabas Ganidekam finished off a gorgeous through ball and danced his way around senior Britt Wisener and deposited a shot past the keeper in a oneon-one situation.
Armed with a 10-6 shooting advantage in the first half, John Brown allowed the Fire some life in the second half as Southeastern tallied a 10-9 shooting advantage, finding the back of the goal twice.
The Fire caught a spark in the 75th when Ganidekam added his second goal. The comeback didn’t end there, however, as Chase Hovious’ tally tied the match at three apiece just 1:22 later.
Faced with having to go through overtime, JBU nearly ended it early in the first extra time.
Zamarron danced into the box and drew a hard foul, setting up the freshman with a chance to end the contest. Zamarron’s penalty kick, went high, however, forcing the teams to continue on into extra time.
JBU out-shot Southeastern 10-7 in the extra 20 minutes of play, but neither team could put away the game winner, which led to the Golden Eagle heroics in penalty kicks.