Oakville Soccer to Play For State Championship

History is repeating itself as Oakville heads to the state championship game Saturday night.

The 2000 state championship team won their semifinal game in penalty kicks before heading to the finals and that’s exactly what the 2011 team did Friday night.

After 80 minutes of play and two 15-minute overtimes, the Tigers defeated the Rock Bridge Bruins in penalty kicks, winning the game 1-0.

The team will take on De Smet at Blue Springs South High School for the championship Saturday at 6 p.m.

Oakville and Rock Bridge remained scoreless throughout a physical game for both teams. In the match-up, the Tigers lost forward Michael Munsell to a broken nose and defenseman Kyle Filiput to an ankle injury.

Munsell is typically responsible for the team’s long throws in, while Filiput is a strong defenseman.

“We had some (athletes) play that haven’t in the last 2-3 weeks,” said Tiger coach Dave Robben. “They stepped in and did an awesome job.”

Goaltender Alec McChesney was also not in perfect condition, and Robben said he was warming up another goaltender for the penalty kicks.

“But he said he wanted to do it, and he did it,” Robben said, and left McChesney in.

Five Tigers faced off against five Bruins in the penalty kicks. Oakville kickers Jared Swierk, Eric Brinkmann, Brian Tate, Jordan Klipsch and Zach Klipsch all scored against the Rock Bridge keeper.

McChesney blocked the second Bruin kicker, Mason Sherman, securing a victory when Zach Klipsch made his final kick into the goal.

The Tigers will face De Smet Saturday night, which beat Lee Summit West 2-1 in double overtime. The two teams did not meet this year in the regular season.

“We have less than 24 hours to get ready to play,” Robben said. “You win this game and then you plan that one, because you can’t look ahead in the playoffs.”

Check out more photos from the game on our Facebook page.