Sophomore nets penalty kick to down Leland in semifinals
CUPERTINO – Sophomore Jamie Binowski calmly walked toward the penalty box, picking up the ball on his way, and then tee’d it up on the grass just right before taking a couple of steps back to line up his shot.
There were already 15 penalty kicks taken (eight by Leland, seven by Gilroy) in Monday’s Homestead Christmas Cup Semifinal at De Anza College in Cupertino.
Leland, which went first to start the initial five-player penalty kick lineup for each team, had made only four of its eight kicks. Gilroy, which had two prior chances to win the game but missed both shots, made four of seven and once again had a chance to win. (Both teams take five penalty kicks, rotating back and forth. If it is tied, then the penalty kicks are one apiece until a winner is decided.)
It was up to the first-year varsity midfielder, Gilroy’s eighth player to step to the line, or else another round awaited.
Binowski did not let it happen again, blasting a high shot off the inside of the crossbar and into the net to give the Mustang kickers the win and send them into today’s Cup Championship against the winner of the Watsonville-Live Oak semifinal.
“I knew exactly what I was going to do,” Binowski said. “I’ve practiced this shot before with my brother so I knew exactly what I was doing and I thought if I put it a little higher, the goalie would be diving low so I had a feeling it was going in.”
Once the kick was in, the Mustangs ran from midfield, tackled Binowski to the ground, and piled up on him in celebration.
“I’ve actually never taken a penalty kick in my life,” Binowski said. “Once when I played with my club team, but this was my first real pressure kick.”
He’s one for one, now.
While it was Binowski sealing the victory over the two-time defending Homestead Christmas Cup Champions, it was sophomore keeper Brian Velasquez saving the day for
