The Dolphins defeated a determined Carden Hall team, 2-1, in a penalty-kick shootout, after regulation ended in a 1-1 tie.
“When we had our penalty kicks, I was really nervous,” said Andersen fourth-grader Caroline Bethel. “I didn’t know if we could do it. If we didn’t, we’d break up the tradition of winning the championship six years in a row.”
Bethel helped the Dolphins keep the streak alive, scoring their only goal in regulation. In the penalty kicks, Maddie Musselman then came up big for Andersen.
A midfielder during regulation, she played goalie during the shootout. Musselman also scored on the first penalty kick taken, then proceeded to block four of Carden Hall’s five attempts.
“I was really nervous,” Musselman said. “A lot of people were depending on me to block all the shots.”
She blocked all except Carden Hall’s third shot, which Liz Barbaresi scored into the upper-left corner to tie the shootout at 1-1. But, on the very next shot, Andersen’s Katherine Hess tapped a goal into the lower-right corner to give the Dolphins the lead back.
Neither team would score again in the shootout, and the streak would live on.
Carden Hall shocked Andersen late in the first half, when Maddie Kernan lofted a shot off the goalie’s hand and in to give Carden Hall the lead. It was the first time the Dolphins had trailed in the entire tournament.
But they kept fighting. On a pass from Madison Binder, Bethel scored in front of the net three minutes into the second half to tie the score at 1-1.
Carden Hall, playing with just a single substitute, had its best chance to retake the lead with four minutes left in regulation. Barbaresi’s hard shot went off goalie Katherine Hess’ hands, then off the left goal post. But Hess, who made 12 saves, recovered nicely to cover it up.
