Pekin 2, Limestone 2 (Pekin wins 2-1 in penalty kicks)

MORTON - May Madness infected McClellan Park on Wednesday night.

In what's believed to be the longest high school soccer game played at Rotary Field, Pekin beat Limestone 2-1 in a five-round penalty kick shootout in the semifinals of the Class AA Morton Regional.

The nearly three-hour game went to a shootout because 120 minutes of soccer weren't enough to decide a winner. The teams were tied 2-2 after 80 minutes of regulation time and four 10-minute sudden-death overtime periods.

Thanks to the marathon victory, No. 4 seed Pekin (11-6-3) will face No. 2 seed Morton (17-4-1) in the regional finals at 7 p.m. Friday.

Pekin junior goalie Lindsay Coffey was the star of Wednesday's shootout. Besides allowing just one Limestone goal in five rounds, Coffey scored the eventual winning goal.

“I saw that she (Limestone goalie Carli Light) was coming out to challenge our shooters, so I put a chip shot over her,'' Coffey said about her third-round goal.

Jakki Johnson scored for Pekin in the first round. Lauren Cash and Allie Zuercher shot high in the second and fourth rounds.

Only Aliex Bullock was able to put a shot past Coffey in the shootout. That came in the third round, just before Coffey scored.

Coffey made a save on Kyrstin Smith in the second round, and Rachel Kyle (first round), Ashley Schultz (fourth round) and Amanda Hurst (fifth round) missed the net.

“I was nervous,'' Coffey said. “I was involved in shootouts in grade school soccer, but this was the first time in high school.''

Pekin coach Edgar Sandoval had a sneaking suspicion that No. 6 seed Limestone (3-12-2) would play defensively and take the game into a shootout.

That's why he had his team work on shootouts in the final 15 minutes of practice for the past week.

“I think we were more at ease than Limestone during the shootout because of the experience in practice,'' Sandoval said. “But the game really shouldn't have gone that far. We had so many chances to score. Carli Light played a fantastic game, but we didn't finish very well.''

Light made 15 saves. Coffey had three saves.

It was Pekin's third victory over Mid-Illini rival Limestone this season, and each game was a struggle.

The Lady Dragons won the previous encounters 2-1 and 2-0.

It looked like Pekin was in control Wednesday after breakaway goals by Shawna Swisher with 31:38 left in the first half and Cash with 34:53 remaining in the second half gave the Lady Dragons a 2-0 lead.

Long passes by Haley Lower and Zuercher sent the speedy Swisher and Cash on the way to their goals.

Limestone got back into the game in a hurry after Cash scored. A goal by Kayla Bredernitz just 1:46 after Cash's goal made it 2-1.

The Lady Rockets tied the game with 1:25 remaining in regulation when Schultz collected a misplayed ball and banged a shot off the post and into the net.

“Limestone seemed to want to win the game more than we did in the second half, and their first goal really gave them momentum,'' Sandoval said.