IHSAA Boys Soccer Championship: Crown Point 1, Columbus North 0 (Final in 4-2 Shoot-out)

Bulldogs win 1st ever Boys Soccer State Title over Columbus North, 1-0

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

10-30-2011

Team	1	2	OT1	OT2	Shoot-out	Final
Columbus North (18-3-2)	0	0	0	0	2	0
CROWN POINT (16-6-2)	0	0	0	0	4	1

Saturday, October 29, 2011, 52 degrees, partly cloudy, cross wind at 11 mph;
Class 2A State Championship Boys Soccer at Kuntz Stadium - Indianapolis, IN. Attendance: 4,467.

Shots by Period	1	2	OT1	OT2	Total
Columbus North (18-3-2)	9	6	3	3	21
CROWN POINT (16-6-2)	5	6	0	0	11

GOALKEEPERS: Christian Lomeli (CP), Cameron Robertson (CN)
FOULS: Columbus North 16, CROWN POINT 13

SHOOTOUT (best of 5)
(CN) Riley Belding - save
(CP) Zach Sneiderwine - goal
(CN) Brad Shaw - goal
(CP) Carmelo Morales - goal (inside right post)
(CN) Eric Perry - goal
(CP) Bay Kurtz - goal (off goalie's hands)
(CN) Andre Abedian - save
(CP) Alex Fenn - goal (off goalie's hands)

(CP wins shootout 4-2)

CROWN POINT State Champions
Boys tennis - 1971
Girls basketball - 1984
Girls basketball - 1985
Wrestling - 2009
Boys Soccer - 2011

CROWN POINT (10-29-2011) The original plan was to win the state title. As far fetched as it sometimes seems, it always is. When Crown Point lost to eventual state champion Lake Central in the 2010 Crown Point boys soccer sectional championship game, 'far-fetched' became a light at the end of a long road. Sometimes it's best if you don't change the plan.

In the first two-class boys soccer state tournament, unranked Crown Point became the first Class 2A state champion Saturday night with a 1-0 shootout victory over Columbus North at Kuntz Stadium on Indianapolis' near west side.

I don't think it was planned this way, but the format didn't change in the final two weeks. As they did against Noblesville and Warsaw at the Warsaw Semistate on Oct. 22, CP played their opponent to a scoreless tie throughout two 40-minute halves and two seven-minute overtime periods, winning in the best-of-five shootout tiebreaker 4-2 in front of over 4,000 fans.

2011 CP soccer becomes the first boys team sport state champion in the entire history of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and just the third Crown Point high school boys state champs (1971-tennis and 2009-wrestling) all time.

"It's unbelievable," said senior goal-keeper Christian Lomeli, who stopped two Columbus North shots in the best-of-five shootout format. "It's nuts. It's not real."

"We really were able to put it together in the post-season," said winning coach JR Rosenbaum. "The kids take pride in keeping a clean (score) sheet. I thought for long stretches in the game they outplayed us. But we were able to keep them out. We have a lot of confidence in Christian back there."

Lomeli, the very quick, active goalie, was again the star. There were a half dozen potential goals for Columbus North (19-3-2) that Lomeli either stopped or attacked in the air and grabbed before the shot could occur. The Bulldogs clearly banked on their keeper, frequently passing him the ball to originate clearing sequences.

There were some eyebrows raised when Lomeli came back to the roster in the post-season, but he was arguably the best player on the field for either team in CP's last five playoff victories. And he was a part of the team from way back.

"Christian was here when he was a freshman," said Rosenbaum. "I'm happy that he came back. All the boys are happy that he came back. He's always been part of the team. When he came back, it was a 'no-brainer' to play him."

Lomeli's only mistake Saturday was that he set off a premature rush-the-field happy moment on the Kuntz stadium turf when he stopped the fourth shootout penalty kick with CP already leading 3-2. The CP senior rushed out the net towards his teammates, setting off a wild celebration in the middle of the field.

But CP hadn't won yet. Had they missed their final two kicks, North could have tied the game with their fifth boot. Everybody had to calm down and let CP junior Alex Fenn boot CP's fourth penalty kick, which dribbled by Columbus North goalkeeper Cameron Robertson, sparking a second, truly legitimate game-ending party.

"I looked at the ref," Lomeli said. "And he said 'It's over.' So, I said, 'Yeah. Let's celebrate.' I didn't even count the goals."

Lomeli gave CP the lead in the shootout when he dived to his right to slap away the first shot by Columbus North's Riley Belding. CP's success in the shootout the last two weeks was based on the fact that they never missed a shot. The five shooters: Zach Sneiderwine, Carmelo Morales, Bay Kurtz, Alex Fenn and Lomeli (who didn't need to shoot Saturday) were 14-0 in shootout kicks.

"I guessed which way he'd shoot," said Lomeli of Belding. "I had an idea he'd go there. I did in the Warsaw game, too and the others I stopped. You have to guess."

CP shut out its last three opponents in the 80 minutes of regulation time and the 14 overtime minutes. Soccer is a defensive game where playing your best is defined as not allowing any goals.

"Our defense was great," said co-captain Danny Naumoski. "My hats off to Christian. He's an amazing goalie. He saves us a lot. Everybody played as hard as they can. Three shutouts. Three PKs. It's remarkable. Everybody knows everybody in some way. They (Columbus North) have got a couple of really good players."

Some CP people thought they could compete on a state wide basis based on their narrow losses to 2010 state champion Lake Central last year.

"I knew we were good enough," Naumoski said. 'I knew we could do this if we just beat them (LC) one time. It's amazing."

Lake Central won the 2010 state championship and Valparaiso was the 2004 state champ. But CP, which was 7-0 in this fall's playoffs, will now always be the first NW Indiana school to sweep the playoffs under the small school-big school format.

Crown Point (16-6-2) played a very nervous first half, struggling to control the ball and connect on passing combinations. North junior scoring leader Brad Shaw (14 goals in 23 games) got around the CP defense in the 13th minute of the game, but Lomeli rushed out of the net and deflected his shot.

Steve Benson collected a bad clearing pass and got off a good shot two minutes later, only to have Lomeli block the attempt. CP's only real chance was off a centering pass from Zach Sneiderwine that Nyle Fuerstenberg lifted over the cross bar in the 28th minute.

The Bulldogs were good in the first 20 minutes of the second half on the choppy Kuntz Stadium turf, but both sides played cautiously in the final 20 minutes and all 14 minutes of overtime on what turned into a cold, windless night.

Crown Point played without senior Martin Mitreski, who had to miss his first game of the year after two 'yellow card' fouls in the post-season. Junior Nico Garcia-Vicente missed most of the season with a knee injury and watched Saturday's championship game from a wheelchair next to the CP bench.

"They both know what they contribute to us," said Rosenbaum. "I'd have liked to have seen what we would be with Nico all year. It's great that they got to be a part of it. I wish they could have played."

But all were on the field under the artificial light at almost 10 p.m. Indianapolis time as CP celebrated team sports history.

"This is why we play," said Rosenbaum. CP's newest championship coach. "This is what it's all about."

STATE NOTES: Nobody will leave Crown Point high school next summer with the athletic experience of Brett Bayer, who played in the 1-0 state soccer championship game win Saturday after booting the game-winning field goal in the Class 4A Sectional semifinal football 12-10 win over Valparaiso Friday night.

The plan was for the soccer team to leave at sunset Friday for Indianapolis, abandoning Bayer back at the school with the football team, but Brett said that was just an illusion.

"I actually rode on the bus with them to I-65," he reported. "And then I got in one of the cop cars and drove back to the school."

There are better places for the state soccer finals than Kuntz Stadium. The 24-year old home of IUPUI soccer, across the street from the abandoned Bush Stadium pro baseball park on 16th Street in Indianapolis, has seen better days. The field is noticeably darker at the south end than it is at the north and the turf was a little chewed up by the fourth game of the day. One alternate site would be Butler University, but Kuntz Stadium is reportedly free to the IHSAA, while use of Butler's recently renovated soccer complex would have to be negotiated.