By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area
Locked in a scoreless Concorde District quarterfinal with second-seeded Robinson and time dripping away in regulation, sixth-seeded Oakton dropped its midfielders to a more conservative alignment.
The adjustment forced the Rams to think out-of-the-box to net the game-winner — or out-of-the-field.
Junior midfielder Kevin Murphy heaved a throw-in from the near sideline off the fingers of the Oakton keeper and into the goal in the 78th minute to lift No. 3 Robinson to 1-0 win on Wednesday, earning it a berth in the district championship against Centreville.
Since throw-ins are in-direct dead ball plays — as they must touch at least one other player before being goal-eligible — the goal would not have counted had the throw entered the net without contact.
That, apparently, was okay with Murphy.
“I was mainly trying to throw to my forward who was screening the keeper, hoping something would happen,” he said. “And something happened, so it was exciting.
“I was a little shocked it actually went in.”
Added second-year Ram coach Jac Cicala, a two-time state champion while at Lake Braddock: “I’ve never seen that. If the goalkeeper had let it go, it would not have been a goal. When he went after it, we got the advantage on that one.
“I’ve not seen that. It’s a funny game, isn’t it?”
The match drew obvious similarities with the regular-season meeting between Oakton and Robinson on April 28, a 0-0 draw on the same field.
While the Rams held a decided possession advantage — and were visibly-greater threats in the attacking third — the Cougars never broke, even when the wind picked up in the home side’s favor for the duration of the second half.
“They made it really difficult,” said Cicala, whose team went 12-5-3 last season, finishing as runners-up in both the Northern Region and Virginia AAA State Tournaments. “They were well-organized, they kept destroying things and we didn’t make the most of the opportunities that we had.
“And the longer that game went on, psychologically, they were gaining momentum. That was huge at the end, huge. I did not want to go into overtime with them.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
Oakton (4-7-3) 0 0 — 0
Robinson (10-1-2) 0 1 — 1
Goals:
RB — Murphy (78)
Processing your request, Please wait....
