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A draw isn't the same for East and West

BY Andrew Snyder Staff Writer

Published: Friday, March 6, 2009 10:32 PM CST

MURPHY n Emotions aren’t usually high after a tie game.

But that couldn’t be said Friday night after Plano East and Plano West’s 1-1 draw.

“I heard one kid say that we can’t catch a break right now,” said Rick Woodard, East head coach. “But right after that he said that we’re playing well.”

Relief came for the Panthers.

But a loss for the Wolves meant an even slighter chance at a playoff spot.

“We knew we had to win out,” said Jimmy Dowell, West head coach. “And our direct competition [McKinney Boyd] we play Tuesday. The guys are disappointed because they know they didn’t play as well as they should have.”

A losing record at their back made the Panthers anxious to attack. In their usual style they put together an intense attack to open the night. But just as familiarly, East’s drives were disrupted. In the 7th minute junior speedster Mauricio Velasco was taken the ball up the middle toward the goal only to be rejected by West senior defender Andrew Bayne, who sent senior John McDuffee packing a minute later.

Twenty minutes in and there still hadn’t been a strong shot on goal. The Panthers took care of that and sent a balance of play that had been evening out wholly the Eastern way. In a throw-in connection the ball left Velasco’s hands and arced over to senior Matt Pitcock’s foot, which sent it jetting right into the arms of Wolves sophomore keeper Trevor Lesueur for the narrow save. Pitcock took a long shot a moment later and junior Ryan Ritter had a close shot on the next play, again blocked by the keeper, to end a dangerous East attack with no damage done.

“I didn’t think we played well in the first half,” Dowell said. “And on their goal we let a ball bounce that we shouldn’t have.”

In the 48th minute West was within inches of the first goal of the game. Not on a shot, but if junior Win Porras would have been a fraction left on his scoring attempt he would have bypassed East sophomore keeper James Saulnier for an open goal. He cut across during a showdown with the keeper only to be blocked out. Porras was visibly disappointed, but he would get his goal later on in the game.

The defense for both teams continued to clear out, whether it was the West keeper catching a throw-in or East junior Ben Antoniou cutting the Wolves forwards off at midfield, and the tie remained.

On another play a razor’s width from putting points on the board Panthers sophomore Philip Catagnus got a break away charge toward the goal and didn’t allow the keeper to stop him. Catagnus plowed right in and the players collided, with the ball rolling out and slowly into the goal.

But naturally, it was called back.

East junior Lashaw Salta had a sweet setup of his own in the 66th minute, but he slowed up 10 yards from the goal and allowed a Wolves defender to lodge himself next to the goal post. The ball went out of bounds.

Just when the game was being written off as a scoreless tie, soon-to-be shirtless Catagnus scored.

He took a lofty shot that picked up speed as it dropped to burn into the goal in the 69th minute. The shirt came off, the yellow card came out and the Panthers didn’t care as they had a 1-0 lead.

West’s playoff ambitions took a major hit with that shot, but the Wolves kept on the prowl and put in a goal of their own in the game’s final moments. Senior Satoshi Tatsumi distracted the keeper and defenders on a cut across the goal, buying time for Porras to get into position at the back door where Tatsumi shot him the ball for the open goal.

The score evened the match 1-1, which was the eventual final, but West left the field knowing it needed a win.

“We’re not playing a good whole game,” Dowell said. “Just parts of it and that’s not where you want to be right now.”

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