Having already faced penalty kicks once this postseason in a do-or-die situation, Covington Catholic is pretty confident when their goalie Booker Gifford is in net with their season on the line.
Gifford stopped West Jessamine’s final two penalty kicks to win the shootout 4-3 in Tuesday’s KHSAA boys state soccer tournament first round matchup played in Nicholasville. The win gets the Colonels into Saturday’s quarterfinals where they’ll travel to Prestonsburg for a trip to the semifinals on the line.
Ryan Roberts and Cole Bishop scored the goals for the Colonels. Roberts converted off a Dillon Warner corner kick in the first half for a 1-0 lead, Bishop scoring in the second half for a 2-1 advantage with just under 11 minutes remaining.
PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
The Colts (17-6-3), winners of the 12th Region, tied the game up with 3:20 to play.
After two overtime periods, to penalty kicks they went. Both teams converted on their first three kicks and after both missed their fourth attempt, region tournament MVP Tanner Robertson hit on the Colonels fifth attempt to make it 4-3. Gifford then stopped the final shot for the victory.
Covington Catholic (16-7-2) won their first state tournament game since 2021, when they made it all the way to the championship before finishing runner-up to Paul Laurence Dunbar. The winner of Saturday’s game heads to Tuesday’s semifinals to face the winner of Owensboro and South Oldham. Saturday’s game time has not been set yet.