Crown Point advances on penalties

Updated: October 22, 2011 10:53PM

Chants of “MVP! MVP! MVP!” rang out as Christian Lomeli was hoisted on shoulders during the celebration.

Of course, Crown Point’s first semistate title in boys soccer was an all-around team effort.

Forwards creating dangerous chances, if near-misses. Midfielders controlling the flow of play.

Defenders locking down for 188 scoreless minutes at Saturday’s Class 2A Warsaw Semistate.

But senior goalkeeper Lomeli came through again for the Bulldogs in the final, in similar fashion to the semifinals. He nailed the decisive penalty kick and saved one as Crown Point downed Warsaw 5-3 on PKs, after the teams had played to a scoreless draw through regulation and overtime in Saturday night’s championship game.

The Bulldogs (15-6-2) will play either Columbus North or Avon for the state title at 5 p.m., Saturday at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis.

“It’s a miracle. ... I’m just so proud of my boys,” said senior defender Dan Naumoski, describing the PKs as the most “nerve-racking” experience of his life.

“We knew they had a couple good players. We practiced all season long for those good guys. My back line and Christian were amazing.”

Crown Point — once again — made all five of its penalty kicks; on its fourth one, standout Warsaw goalkeeper David Johnson got a hand on Alex Fenn’s shot, but the ball snuck across the goal line. Then, on the Tigers’ fourth shot, Lomeli dived to his right to stop Jose Rodriguez.

“This one was more of a guess, because he didn’t look anywhere,” said Lomeli, who didn’t gain eligibility and make his season debut until the regional semifinals. “I kind of got lucky. I dove the correct way, and once you dive the correct way, it’s about saving it.”

Lomeli then made Crown Point’s fifth penalty kick, rendering Warsaw’s unnecessary, sending CP to the state finals for the first time.

“That’s what big-time players do, and that’s what he (Lomeli) is,” said CP coach JR Rosenbaum, also noting Warsaw (18-4-1) had something of a scouting report on the Bulldogs by virtue of their semifinal win via shootout against Noblesville.

“The tournament is all about playing well and a little bit of luck. Today we got away with a little bit of luck; next week we’ll play well.”

Still, the Bulldogs did play well, and were somewhat unlucky during the last 15 minutes of regulation, as they came close to scoring a handful of times, on various plays, but simply couldn’t finish.

They didn’t allow any potential frustration to mount, and kept their composure as overtime and the penalty kicks unfolded. They also had ample confidence, having won in PKs only hours earlier.

“Warsaw is a phenomenal team,” Rosenbaum said. “They play good soccer. Jose (Rodriguez) in the center is unmatched. I don’t think we’ve seen a player like him all year. (Forward Cory) Lopez too. But we battled through.”

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