Center Point-Urbana stopped in penalty shootout as Columbus' rookie keeper stands tall

DES MOINES – Center Point-Urbana had to like where it stood.

The Stormin' Pointers held a Waterloo Columbus team that put in three goals against them May 25 scoreless for 100 minutes. Now the lottery of penalty kicks awaited.

In net for the No. 3-ranked Sailors was freshman Sydney Schultz, who prior to this season had never played goalkeeper before. In fact, she hadn't played soccer at all since the 12U division.

But Schultz didn't show an ounce of anxiety, saving two shots and watching another bang off the crossbar as the Sailors won the shootout, 3-1, and ended sixth-ranked Center Point-Urbana's season in Thursday's Class 1A quarterfinals.

'That's her demeanor. She's like that,' Columbus Coach Julie Girsch said. 'I think in a lot of her sports, she's just calm and collected.'

Schultz is a catcher in softball and also plays volleyball. The soccer team convinced her to come out. Good thing.

'I was kind of nervous, but I was pretty confident, too,' Schultz said. 'My team is really happy that I came out and they're really proud of me.'

Not be outdone, CPU goalkeeper Courtney Jones also made two shootout saves, but Molly McLaughlin, Grace Surma and Kiera Cabrera converted to send the Sailors to the state semifinals for the second straight year.

Jones made six saves in regulation as Columbus took its chances from long range.

Just two weeks ago, the Sailors scored twice from outside the box in their 3-1 win. After that regular season finale, the Stormin' Pointers became a different team.

'We realized that our 50-50 ball aggressiveness wasn't up to par, so the last couple weeks we were working on it really hard,' Grayson Gifford, a senior captain said. 'We just made sure we were a lot more aggressive as a team and I think that showed today.'

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The Sailors out-shot the Pointers 23-8 through 100 minutes, but few were major threats. Jones came up with a diving save on a bouncer in the 56th minute, but otherwise watched plenty sky over her head.

'Our mission the last three weeks was to improve and neutralize everything they did,' CPU co-Coach Todd Mitchell said. 'From what I saw, we did that today. It was a great game. We got beat by a fantastic team. (Columbus) will know they played someone.'

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