Panthers win in shootout

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Pinewood Prep hosts Bishop England in boys soccer

Pinewood Prep hosted Bishop England in boys soccer on Friday.

SUMMERVILLE — It was exactly the kind of game one would expect from two of the best boys high school soccer programs in the state.

In a game that was tied 2-2 after overtime, Pinewood Prep prevailed 4-2 on penalty kicks over Bishop England on Friday night at the Pinewood athletic complex.

"We expected a very tough game," said Panthers coach Jason Birchwood. "I saw Bishop England in the preseason and I think they're the best team in the Lowcountry right now. We got lucky at the right time. Hopefully we can use this game as a building block for the rest of the season.

Pinewood Prep, the five-time defending SCISA state champion, has dominated the series against Bishop England, the four-time defending state champion in Class AA of the South Carolina High School League.

The Panthers have won nine of the last 11 meetings between the two schools, but Friday night's match looked like it was going to belong to the Bishops.

Trailing 1-0, Bishop England tied it with 14:33 to play on a goal by Zachary Epstein. Momentum swung even further toward the Bishops when Pinewood's Blaise Rashtchian was ejected on a red card with 11 minutes to play, leaving the Panthers a man down for the remainder of the game.

It looked like the Bishops were in control when Brandon Costa's goal put Bishop England ahead 2-1 with 2:18 to play, but the Panthers tied it 2-2 on a penalty kick by Malcolm Reed in stoppage time.

After a scoreless overtime, the game went to penalty kicks. Keeper Robert Beebe came up with two big stops to help the Panthers (7-1) pull it out.

It was the first loss of the season for Bishop England, 5-1.

It was just one of those things," said Bishop England coach Ed Khouri. "It's tough to beat them here. They always have a good program. We kind of lost our focus and made some bad decisions, but that's part of the game."

Pinewood had taken a 1-0 lead with 32:32 to play in the match when Brandon Ferro headed a cross from his brother Thomas into the back of the net.

Minutes earlier, the Bishops just missed on a scoring opportunity when Beebe made a diving save off a shot by Epstein.

The game was scoreless at halftime, with both teams missing on scoring chances.Less than three minutes into the match, the Bishops had a goal negated by an offside penalty.

And with 29:37 to play, Trey Riedmayer missed just wide on a shot on goal that would have put the Panthers in the lead.

The two teams will meet again at Bishop England on April 3.