DALTON, Ga. — Irving Salgado fired an imperfect shot in overtime Tuesday night, but it resulted in a perfect ending for the Gainesville High School boys’ soccer team.
Salgado’s shot was a knuckleball off his purple-cleated left foot from just outside the box that hit the bottom of the crossbar and caromed into the back of the next. The goal came with 4:09 left in overtime and lifted second-ranked and undefeated Gainesville to a 1-0 win over fourth-ranked Southeast Whitfield in a Georgia Class AAA semifinal.
“The last couple of minutes of the game I’d been taking some shots and taking on defenders, and I told my teammates, ‘Give me the ball. I’m going to put one in the back of the net,'” Salgado said.
In a game full of missed opportunities for both teams, Salgado said he thought his shot was going to be another.
“I thought it was going over,” he said. “I put my head down, kind of, when I shot it, and as soon as I heard the screams I filled up with joy.”
Southeast coach Jamison Griffin said Salgado’s “ball had eyes on it” and called it “a very nasty shot.”
The Raiders (17-5) were trying to make it back to the state championship game for the second time in three years, but Southeast’s many good shots came up empty, and Salgado’s boot passed just beyond the reach of goalkeeper Cesar Maldonado.
“I really feel like we outplayed the other team — don’t get me wrong, it was a well played game by both teams — but we had a lot of opportunities, a lot of shots on goal,” Griffin said. “And I felt like they were tough shots to get, but we had a lot of them.”
The Red Elephants (18-0) will face Woodward Academy, which beat St. Pius X 1-0, for the state championship on Friday. Gainesville will have its coach, Rick Howard, back for that game.
Howard missed Tuesday’s match while finishing a two-game suspension after being ejected late in the Red Elephants’ second-round win over Riverwood.
Southeast’s best scoring opportunity came in the first half half when Bernabe Rangel beat his defender near the top of the box and passed the ball to his left, to a wide-open Ezequiel Nunez.
It was Nunez versus Gainesville goalkeeper Marco Monreal, one on one. Instead of shooting right away, Rangel paused long enough to give Monreal time to run toward him and cut off the angles. Rangel’s shot deflected off Monreal and the game remained scoreless.
Both teams had numerous chances in the second half, but neither side was able to force the keepers to make many saves. Many of the shots passed over the crossbar or just wide of the posts.
In overtime, Salgado’s didn’t — and that was the difference.