After 16-round shootout, Puyallup defeats Union for 4A district title
Puyallup High School senior goalkeeper Nathan Vitzthum had never seen anything like it. Sixteen times, he stood in between the goal posts in a penalty kick shootout. After regulation and extra time, Puyallup and Union stood at a 1-1 stalemate at Sparks Stadium on Thursday night in the District 3/4 high school boys soccer championship game.
With the game still tied after extra time, it went to a penalty kick shootout. Best of five attempts. The problem? It was still tied after five attempts for each team. Still tied after 10. Still tied after 15. It took until the 16th attempt for Puyallup to win the contest, when sophomore midfielder Liam Stoner converted his attempt to end one of the most dramatic and unlikely shootouts Puyallup had ever seen. Along the way, Vitzthum stopped four of Union’s shot attempts.
“I think the most I’ve ever done is like six or seven, maybe,” he said after the game.
In soccer penalty kick shootouts, each player takes a shot. If it continues, teams have to go through their entire starting lineup. By shot No. 11, that meant the goalkeepers from both teams had to attempt shots against each other (they both converted). It was only the second time Vitzthum has even taken a penalty kick in his life. The first didn’t go so well.
“I was like nine,” he said. “I missed. Not a good memory for me.”
He raised his average to 50 percent, converting his shot on Thursday. Then he saw five more come his way, blocking the 16th and final attempt from Union’s Josh Boda. Then Puyallup’s Liam Stoner made his shot, sealing the district tournament win for the Vikings.
The deepest Puyallup had gone into a postseason penalty shootout was seven rounds, in a 2013 state tournament loss to Inglemoor. Thursday’s contest more than doubled the mark.
Puyallup got off to a hot start, scoring a goal in the fifth minute, when a ball off a corner kick was partially cleared by Union’s defense, bouncing back to sophomore defender Roby Hooper. He hit the bouncing ball on a gorgeous volley goal, sending it over the keeper’s head and into the back of the net.
It wasn’t a given that Hooper would even be able to suit up on Thursday. He’d been running a 100-plus degree fever in days prior, unsure whether he’d be able to return to action. Even Thursday morning at school, he wasn’t feeling 100 percent. But in pregame warmups, he felt fine and decided to give it a go.
Then he scored the “banger” goal — in the words of Puyallup coach Matt White — to give Puyallup the early advantage.
“I saw the ball bouncing back out,” Hooper said. “Since day one of high school, I’ve been taught that if I hit it twenty yards over the bar, it’s just as good because we don’t get countered. I was thinking about taking a touch, but I didn’t. I just hit it.”
Even if the ball sailed, that would’ve been fine with White. Hitting a hard strike prevents a possible counterattack from the other team. So, Puyallup’s coach was thrilled to see his sophomore defender take the shot on the bounce, rather than taking a second chance and allowing the defense to close the space.
“He knew his job was to hit it as hard as he could on frame,” White said. “Don’t let us get countered. You don’t get two touches. If it goes in, fantastic. If it goes 100 miles and turns into a new SpaceX in orbit, I’m fine with that, because then we don’t get countered.”
Puyallup gave up just one goal in three games in the District 3/4 tournament, beating Kentwood 1-0 and Kennedy Catholic 1-0 before Thursday night’s championship game. The Vikings are a work in progress — and young — in the attack. But the back line and play of Vitzthum give the Vikings a shot to win every game. In addition to the shootout saves, Vitzthum kept Puyallup in the game, making several clutch saves down the stretch, including a kick-save in the 74th minute, extending his right leg and blocking the shot of a Union forward who made his way past the back line and had a clear look at the goal.
“Three times he came up huge 1v1,” White said. “He just kept bailing us out of difficult spots. That was impressive.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 10:33 PM.
