The Lakeland Hawks boys soccer team lost in a heartbreaking game against the Moscow Bears 1-0.
However, there was some controversy regarding the ending of the game.
At the end of the game, it was tied 0-0. Because it was 0-0, the teams went into two 10-minute halves, which means the first goal in those 20 minutes decides the winning team, which is also known as a golden goal.
In the second half of the 20-minute minutes, LHS had a penalty kick opportunity. The ball went into the net, and everyone went into a frenzy as the Hawks thought they had won the game, but the refs believed that someone stepped into the box before senior Austin Parks kicked the ball, so it was called off. It tore the Hawks down. Parks was supposed to get a re-kick, but the refs did not give him one.
Nobody scored the rest of the half. The game then went into a penalty kick shootout. What happens in a kickout is that whichever team gets 5 goals first, or 3 in a row, wins the game.
Moscow went first, and they scored.
Lakeland scored second, tying the kickout score at 1-1. Moscow was able to put one through and take a 2-1 lead. Lakeland then sent one high over the net and missed. Moscow went and scored, taking a 3-1.
Lakeland scored, bringing it to 3-2, Moscow won 5-3 in the shootout, which makes them the winner of the game.
This was a terrible way to end the game, but the season still has a chance not to be over for LHS.
Lakeland is filing an appeal against the game. This could mean the Hawks’ season is not over. If Lakeland were to win the appeal, Parks would go down to Moscow and have one kick to save the season. If he makes it, they would go on to play Sandpoint. If he misses, the season is officially over.
Head coach Nick Haynes was confused with the call and was questioning himself on whether he knew the rules or not.
“We scored the PK, and we thought we won, so we rushed the field and like, yay, we won, and then the ref put his flag up saying one of our guys went into the box,” Haynes said. “We saw it on video later that he didn’t go into the box.”
Senior Wyatt Holfeltz is sad about how his season ended but is happy about how his season went in general.
“It’s definitely discouraging that we didn’t get to go on through districts,” Holfelts said. “The game should have been ours. I definitely saw myself improve throughout the season a lot, I had more good games.”
The Hawks are still waiting on whether or not the appeal went through or not, but are hoping that their season will continue.