Eagles advance to sectional final with thrilling penalty kick win

The Columbia defense battles against Freeburg on Friday night. (John Spytek photo)

The Columbia High School soccer team seemed to have things well in hand early in Tuesday night’s sectional semifinal contest against Anna-Jonesboro at SIUE’s Korte Field in Edwardsville.

The Eagles (17-3-2) led 2-0 at halftime on goals by Adam Becker and Sean Rickey.

But Anna-Jonesboro battled back with two second half goals to send it to overtime, and actually took the lead in OT before Columbia senior Ryan Gudeman tied it at 3-3 on his goal with less than four minutes left.

The do-or-die game went into penalty kicks, and in a wild finish, Matthew Roderick sent the Eagles into the sectional final with his game-winning goal.

Columbia will play Wesclin (15-5) in the sectional title game to be played 2 p.m. Saturday at Metro East Lutheran High School in Edwardsville.

The Eagles defeated Wesclin, 7-0, back on Sept. 8.

Read about Columbia’s regional championship performance in the Oct. 22 print edition of the Republic-Times newspaper.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Corey Saathoff

Corey is the editor of the Republic-Times. He has worked at the newspaper since 2004, and currently resides in Columbia. He is also the principal singer-songwriter and plays guitar in St. Louis area country-rock band The Trophy Mules.
HTC web
MonroeCountyElectric300X15012_19