Cape Central boys’ soccer stuns Notre Dame in thrilling penalty shootout

Cape Central midfielder Joseph Cao fights for the ball in the first half against Notre Dame at Soccerfest on Thursday, Sept. 5.

Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

Cape Central boys’ soccer freshman Dylan Voshage knows a thing or two about confidence.

Unchastened by a Notre Dame penalty miss, Voshage was thrilled to be placed near the end of Cape Central’s list of spot-kick players during a shootout against the rival Bulldogs Thursday night.

“I knew I was going left,” Voshage said. “I looked into his (goalkeeper) eyes and then right. Then I just went left.”

In what was perhaps the biggest moment of his soccer career so far, Voshage delivered.

“At the end of the day, confidence is key,” he said.

After a 1-1 draw in regulation time, Cape Central beat Notre Dame 5-3 in a shootout to win the final game of the opening day of Soccerfest held at Notre Dame High School.

The Tigers rushed from the center of the field to celebrate with Voshage after he booted the clinching penalty to the left roof of the net.

Head coach Jared Dobbs said that the shootout simply came down to relaxing and knowing how to handle the pressure. As a result, his Tigers went a perfect five-for-five in the penalty shootout.

“I told the guys just to be confident,” Dobbs said. “Be secure in the spot that they want to go to and just put the ball in the back of the net. Don’t try to overdue it.

“That was just two quality teams going at it. It’s still early in the season and obviously no team is that full of fitness, so credit to both for giving it everything they had.”

For about 55 seconds in the second half, it appeared as if Notre Dame had the win in their back pocket.

Backed by a defense that was lights out in the first half, Notre Dame star senior Diego Chahin scored a goal off a penalty kick in the 60th minute to break the ice and send a shockwave through the home student section.

Exhilarated, yet somewhat overconfident, the Bulldogs took their foot off the gas for a little too long as the Tigers raced down the field and midfielder Landon Koehler booted a laser into the upper-right corner of the net to tie things up at 1-1 in less than a minute.

“It was just our work rate in the second half,” Dobbs said. “I thought we were a little passive in that first half, allowing them to kind of dictate the pace of play. Then we came out a little more aggressive and changed things up tactically as well.”

Following the Cape Central equalizer, the Bulldogs nearly went back in front when standout sophomore defender Andy Pederson fired a shot that barely fell into the hands of Tiger goalie Sawyer Koch.

The game went straight to penalties and the two teams traded goals until Notre Dame’s fourth attempt when Pederson saw his shot ricocheted off the right post.

That’s when Voshage rose to the occasion and placed his kick right into the net to seal the emphatic victory.

“It’s just good for an experience standpoint if nothing else,” Dobbs said. “It’s still early in the season and we got a young crew. It was cool just to see them in this environment and go into PKs against Notre Dame. It was a special night.”

Cape Central will return to the field tomorrow evening against Carbondale in the second day of Notre Dame Soccerfest. Notre Dame will play either Jackson, Perryville, or Poplar Bluff at a time TBD.

THURSDAY SOCCERFEST RESULTS

Game 1: Poplar Bluff 1, Perryville 0

Game 2: Jackson 4, Carbondale 0

Game 3: Cape Central 1, Notre Dame 1 (5-3 PK)