Welcome to your CSU postgame report. It was more than ninety minutes, more than one hundred, more than one hundred and ten and went to PKS and CSU comes out on top INPKS over the University of West Florida, advancing to the Final four next weekend at the sports Plex at Matthews and we find out who the opponents are in our conversation coming up with CSU head coach Jantlick. We also catch up with Anna La Barbara who got the frame five clinching PK in.
The back of the night.
We also catch up with keeper Heidi Harris and break it all down as we go through and get you ready for the semifinals in Division two. Let's kick things off of our conversation with the head coach from Columbus State, Jantlick. Time for some postgame down in Columbus. It was a long afternoon, but CSU comes out on top, winning not after ninety minutes, after one hundred minutes, not after one hundred and ten, but after one hundred and ten in penalties.
And starting us off here with the CSU postgame head coach Jantleck, have you caught your breath yet?
Sir, No, there's a lot to swallow here. It's you know, it's a quick turnaround. I don't know if we leave Tuesday, we leave Wednesday. The only positive is I know we're getting in a bus and I don't have to book any flights like I had to the last two times we went to the Final four, so there's a little bit more you know, ease and things. It's a five hour trip to Charlotte, so you know, we've got some time to kind of figure things out.
And it looks like it's going to be your friends from Pomona that will be in your side of the bracket that will be your opponents. They were up to nil as you and I are talking, and time was running out on the right hand side of the bracket. But let's get into the match. And this one was
pretty much what we anticipated. It was going to be one of those fifteen round heavyweight fights, and I just dated myself with that reference and stats going through at fifteen eight, you had the advantage in shot seven to three shots on target, fifteen corners. West Florida had ten on the day five yellow cards four went to West Florida, thirty fouls seventeen went to West Florida. When you look at what happened, let's take it a half at a time.
What happened in that first forty five that sticks in your brain.
You know, I think anytime you play a West Florida who you know, credit to Joe bart Lynskey and what he's done in his career there and the amount of regional championships he's won and the consistency, I think, you know you're going to be in a dogfight. And so you know, the game was back and forth, and you know, both team had some chances, and you know, in the end,
you know, disappointing that we didn't score. You know, we've scored in every game this year, and you know this will go down as the one game we didn't score in. So we got to go back to work on Monday and get in front of the goal and score goals. I do want to correct you, though, John, they actually receded for the final four. Okay, don't know who our opponent is until all the games finished, and they have four teams, got it. Actually look at it and go, okay,
who's the top team? And one will play four and two will play three.
So we don't know all right, So let me as we're going through this in real time, So as you and I are discussing what's going on, I'm gonna go I'm gonna look at I'm gonna hit the word that says bracket, and I'm gonna look at winners and see what we've got going here. So Franklin Pierce advances, you, you advance, Minnesota State advances, and cal Poly Pomona advances.
Okay, cal Poly.
Was a one, Minnesota State was a two beating a three. Franklin Pierce is a two, and you're a one. So that's the info one.
I don't know that we'll find out, but listen, at this point, you're going we're one of the one percent that's still playing in Division one, Division two or Division three.
So super happy.
There you go, Final four, heading to Matthew's coming up. That's the next stage here in Division two. Forty five minutes in the books. In that second forty five, when was the last time you show up? We saw a shot hit the inside of the post, spin out and not go in it, and spin out back into the field of play, because you had that and it was almost one nil.
But it spins out after hitting the post.
Yeah, you know, again, credit to West Florida and what they do and the brand of soccer they play. They make it really tough to allow good looks at goal, and you know, and.
Their goalkeeper is very, very good.
Their back line is solid, so we didn't get any easy looks. But you know, in the end, gosh, we'll walk with a with a dub and I think it goes down as a tie. Actually in college soccer's doesn't even go down as a win. But God bless America, I wish it would.
You know, it seems like say six and a half minutes to go in regulation, and from there the field tilted a lot towards you because you've got a shot in the at eighty three twenty four, another shot at eighty four thirty eight, another shot at eighty eight twenty seven. Then you get into the first ot period, shot in the ninety first shot, and it's like there were shots that you got the field to tilt your way late in the second half and in the first ten of overtime.
You know, I honestly credit our entire team. I think again, I tell folks all the time, I've told you our depth this year has been wonderful. We're able to put in players that the level doesn't drop, and I credit our staff, I credit our players, and we do a lot of work with our entire team and I think it really really paid off. And so the freshness of legs really helped us. And just again bummed we didn't get a goal.
Five different players end up with shots for you in the match, and you had three with shots on target when you go into a PK situation, so nothing's resolved after one hundred and ten. What is your what's your conversation with the club heading into p k's How do you get them to focus on it but not get wrapped up in it and overthink the situation.
What's the conversation like, Well, the conversation with him was I knew that Heidi was going to win us the game, and I had full faith in our goalkeeper. She's been awesome in training, She's having a banner year for us, and I'm going to bet on Heidi every time, and you know, it was really cool to see her make those last two saves and it was awesome and she
deserves it. She puts into work and super proud of her, especially coming off you know, when she missed as the second kicker, most people would shut down, and she kind of controlled her energy and locked back in and made two fabulous saves. I mean, it wasn't like the opponent missed. You know, Heidi had to make the saves and she did. And again I think that's the difference.
Let me update the shot numbers.
It was eight different players that had shots and five that had shots on target. For you, going after the mentioning the depth in there, and if you just look at it from the perspective of when when you have your your rundown, when you're trying to sit there and look at your order, how do you determine your order? Are you looking in players' eyes? Do you have some set history and art and do you have an archive in your brain? How do you figure out what your order is going to be?
All the credit goes to coach Salsa. You know he takes notes in practice, We train it all the time. And you know, I said, listen, Budy, this is your time to shine. And I said, you picked the starting five and then you picked the next five. And you know we're only allowed to have nine out there, plus Heidi, so you're only allowed to put either you either put en field players out there and then your goalie does
her thing. But Heidi was part of the ten, and I said's also you picked the you picked the ten and you picked the order, and he did and so kudos to him. Uh, he got it right. And super proud of me.
And it's when you look at if you go by name and stats and goals and things like that, your your kickers in four and five. They're big on minutes, not big in stats on the stat sheet, but they come up in a pressure situation where it is one v one against the opposing keeper and they lock it down in the fourth frame and lock it down in the fifth frame. I think that once again speaks to your depth and the responsibility of each of these individuals understanding the collective.
And no, I.
Mean again, uh, super proud of Anna, le Barbara and Avery. I mean it just it shows how good those kids are and how hard they work and for them to come up big, like you said in frame four and five. You know, we were in the spot last year and
we were unsuccessful. And in twenty three, you know we went out in the round of thirty two to lenor Rhian unpens and so I feel like we learned from that, but for both of them to step up after literally one hundred and ten minutes is awesome, absolutely awesome.
Next up it is Anna La Barbara, and it was an interesting conversation that kind of took a couple of different directions, and one from a hint from someone who's a little larger than your average normal bird. All right, hardest question of the whole thing. How does it feel, too advance?
It feels so great. Just I feel relieved now that we did it and we finished in the PKS.
I'm just ready to go for the next game.
What was it like out there? Let me take it a half at a time or a piece at a time. What was it like out there after forty What was it like out there after ninety? And then what was it like after ninety plus twenty? What was it like out there for you?
After the first forty five, I think I felt like we just needed to pick up the pace a little bit and just do more of the things that we worked on in practice. And then after the second forty five, I definitely felt like we were the better team, and I feel like we had all these chances we just need to finish it off. And then after both other times, I was just tired.
What was the conversation like amongst all the players in the huddle getting ready for pks? What was the talk like with you and everybody out there?
Everyone was just trying to take deep breaths and stay calm and know that we're confident, and who was taking the pins and everyone was just is really trying to hype everybody up but also stay super calm.
So yeah, so.
We're going to the top of the fifth and you it's your turn. Walk me through what's going through your mind and your thought process as you're heading to the spot. And if I don't want you to give away any state secrets about what you're looking at or anything when it comes to analyzing a PK, but what's going through your mind as you're stepping up there?
And frame number five.
Well, stepping up, I was like, Okay, you've got to make this or else it's not going to be good. So I always jog up. I think it's better to jog up to make sure that my nerves don't get to me. And I always do the same thing. I place the ball down where I want it and I take so many steps back. Just take a good deep breath and I know where I'm going, and I just step up and take it. The deep run really really helps me get rid of those nerves, those last second nerves.
So was that something that just developed over time? Where you know we all have your shot routines. Where was that just something that developed over time as a part of your your shot routine.
Yeah, ever since club in high school, that's just been my routine and I've stuck with it. If it works, I'm going to keep doing it.
National semifinal. I know that this is probably a dollar in the jar for me, But how does it feel to be heading into a national semifinal and still be playing?
It feels absolutely amazing. I don't even have many words other than it feels awesome. And I'm so excited to get to go with my friends and just keep playing doing what we love.
Last question for you, and as a member of the Red Dog Unit and le Barbara hanging out with, I have heard this legend of the Christmas sweaters, and I have also heard that the idea is to have the ugliest Christmas sweater known to CSU campus and anybody else that is in touch with the soccer team.
Yeah, I've heard that you might be winning this competition? Is am? I?
Am I accurate in my assessments here? What is my intel telling me here about the ugly sweater competition?
You are one hundred percent accurate. Red Dogs are definitely taking that home. We all showed up with a sweater that was sewn together, so all five of us were in one giant.
Ugly sweater.
Where did this idea come from?
One of our Red Dog members, brook Hunt, said it would be so funny if we all showed up sewn together. And I said, okay, well, let's go by the ugliest sweaters we can find and cut off the sleeves and sew them together.
How difficult is it to walk into a room, walk out of a room, understand what the other four want to do? How difficult is it to function as five in one sweater?
It's definitely a little difficult.
We did a lot of shuffling right, left, right, left, directing everyone where to go. But we had these funny overalls, these Christmas overalls underneath, so we would take off the sweaters and that was reveal number two, so we could eat and function at the Christmas dinner.
Congratulations and I appreciate it.
Last conversation in postgame once again Heidi Harris between the sticks. She came up big in the penalty kicks shoot out. Here's our conversation with the keeper for Columbus State. Now it's time to head between the sticks. What was it like for you out there in that staring contest that was a CSU in West Florida.
I wasn't that stressed. I had faith in my team. I've always trusted that if we did get to this point, we would be good. And I just tried to have faith in what I know I can do and what my team can do and just give it to God.
When looking at the numbers, after one hundred and ten minutes, you only had to face eight shots was all that the defense allowed in that one hundred and ten minutes and only three on target. You had a moment or two where you had to make a say, but it didn't look like it was because of the defense that was out there in front of you.
It didn't look like it was that rough a time.
Not that you were having hot tea and hanging out or anything, but it looked like it was manageable out there for you as opposed to possibly other matches.
It was definitely the way they played with something we haven't seen before, so it took a while to get adjusted to it. They played more like a man mark and really high pressed, and so just building out of the back first, going long, like whenever you're high pressed, you just want to get it out, but sometimes that's not the best decision, so just kind of having to like relax and feel the game was really like important and just trust that my defense can get it out.
And this is one of the games where we had more action in the back, but I just knew my defense would pull through. I've had so much faith in them and I just love playing with them.
After ninety minutes, there's no score. What was the conversation like with you and everybody else there on the team getting ready for the extra twenty.
Minutes, We just kind of had to go back to like how we play and trust our skill. We are a really deep team, so I wasn't really worried when we went to overtime, but like Jay said in our talk, it was like just we have to focus on our skill. We can't like rush it or get into the emotions of it and just play our game and trust that the subs that come on will make a difference and keep the level high.
Then you're in PKS and how do you how do you personally keep the moment from getting too big and getting wrapped up in it and just focusing on the tasks at hand Because you are from the penalty spot and you're defending from the penalty spot, how do you keep locked in and not getting overwhelmed or let the moment take over for it from you?
Well, I just like, let my team know. You have to respect the goalkeeper. She need a lot of good saves, but just know where you're going to go place it. Don't don't try and do too much being up there. I didn't make mine, which was not the best, but I knew my team had my back and I did panic a little. I won't lie. Once I missed, I was like, Okay, that's not the best outcome. But then I was like, you know what, I just got to lock in. It's not over. My team has my back and I need to have their back.
I don't want you to give away any secrets unless you want to. But when in four in frames four and five, you come up with back to back saves that gets the team the advantage at the end of PK, so you can go to a national semi final. What are you looking for specifically in a shooter as they are walking up to the penalty spot? What's your instant analysis and trying to figure out demeanor, emotion? Do they look like they want to be there at all? Do
I know what direction they're going are? Do you have key things that you're looking for during a walk up to determine how you're going to defend?
A lot of it is I like to look at like where they're looking, to see how long they look in a certain place. If they do look somewhere, what's their angle coming up? But at the end I kind of just kind of waited a second see if I could read their body a little more, And I think that made a difference.
Is that what happened in four and five?
Yeah? I try to just calm it down a little be a little more patient leaving my line and see if they give anything away.
And they did and you saved it in four and five and you're heading to a national semifinal. How does it feel heading to a national semifinal.
It's it feels so good. Our team puts in so much work and to see the results like we did today means a lot. We work so hard. It hasn't always been easy, but it's a testament to our strength
and depth. And I think we just really all love each other and support each other, and that's made such a huge difference because we want the season to continue, we want to keep playing, We want the seniors to have the longest season possible, and that support and just love for each other has made a huge difference.
Jay and Anna Labar Sarbarah Heidi Harris heading to national semifinals for CSU. Once again, a successful season does not end in the Western Frontier