Tigers reach state semis

FENTON, Mo. -- Central's boys soccer team continued its historic run through the Missouri Class 3 state playoffs with a thrilling triple overtime 4-3 win over Marquette on Saturday night at the Anheuser-Busch Center.

The Tigers (26-0) overcame foul problems and yellow cards -- Central finished with five yellow cards compared to Marquette's one -- to make their first ever state semifinal.

"We're going to play 28 games and now we're in the final four," Central coach Tom Doyle said. "This has never been done before."

Central will play in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday against the winner of the St. Louis High-Rolla game.

For the second straight game, senior forward Heath Orr prolonged the Tigers' perfect season with an overtime goal. Orr picked up his third goal of the game on a longball from Jordan Duncan. The goal was Orr's 35th of the season.

"We didn't want it to go to shootouts because their keeper is good so we knew we had to do it in overtime," Orr said.

Central's road to the final four was not an easy one. Playing against a much bigger Mustang team (23-3-2), Central was roughed up for much of the early going. And when the Tigers tried to play physical, they were often rewarded with a foul call.

Central midfielder Calen Wills said they knew the Mustangs would be a physical team, but felt they could overcome that.

"We knew we had a size disadvantage, but we can handle our own," he said.

Central jumped out in front with a goal from Orr 11 minutes into the game. The Tigers continued the pressure and had several good shots on Marquette goalie Ross Pfeiffer.

While the Tigers were able to get pressure offensively, on defense Central continued to give up dangerous free kicks. With 6-foot-4 defender Keith McLaren coming up for Marquette's free kicks and corner kicks, the Tigers were playing with fire.

McLaren finally got the best of Central's defenders on a header with about six minutes left before half. Marquette got another dangerous free kick a minute later but the Tigers were able to survive another scare.

Central racked up three yellow cards in the first half.

"I felt like at times we lost our composure," Doyle said. "We had five yellow cards."

At the beginning of the second half, Central was once again whistled for a foul deep in its own territory. Marquette crossed the ball and once again McLaren used his height advantage to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.

Central got the benefit of a foul call with 20 minutes left in the game when it was awarded a penalty shot on a foul in the box.

Orr stepped up to take the kick and struck a ball to the bottom-left corner but Pfeiffer came up with a big save to keep the Mustangs on top.

"After I missed the penalty kick I didn't know how to feel," he said. "I felt sick to my stomach but my teammates told me to pick it up."

The missed penalty did not discourage the Tigers, who scored only two minutes later on a scramble in front of the net. Aaron Bornstein sent a cross that was headed down by Grant Hengst. After the initial save by Pfeiffer, Orr pounded in the loose ball to tie the game.

Less than 10 minutes later Wills took a pass from Orr and used a second effort to give the Tigers the lead back at 3-2. Marquette tied it on a Kyle Gamache blast with less than five minutes left.

"That's kind of what happened two years ago when we played DeSmet," Doyle said of Marquette's late goal.

In overtime the Tigers started out on the defensive. By the time the first overtime was over, Central had regained its composure. In the second overtime Central had almost all of the offensive chances.

"It was definitely a back and forth game," Orr said.

Central's seniors nearly all played a part in the win with yellow cards giving the bench players a little more time on the field.

"We didn't want this to be our last game," Will said.