I watched the Riverside v Hillcrest game last evening. Both sides were short of key players. In the first half, with a strong blustery wind blowing directly down the pitch from behind them, Riverside scored with a wonderful goal from 30 yards or so. With about 13 minutes to go Hillcrest responded with a goal from a corner kick. Riverside had the edge on possession; Hillcrest probably had the edge on goal attempts. Overtime and then penalty kicks and Riverside won 6-5.
A tie would have been a wonderful result for Coach Laney Younts' much improved Hillcrest team. An unranked team tieing the number one ranked team is quite an achievement. So why is it necessary to go through the ritual of taking penalty kicks in a competition where no one is eliminated.
