ASHEBORO The Asheboro and Southwestern Randolph High School varsity soccer teams faced off Wednesday and it came down to the last second or, more accurately, the last kick.

The Blue Comets edged the Cougars 3-2 on penalty kicks at Lee J. Stone Stadium to take the outright Mid-Piedmont Conference lead.

We knew it would be a to-the-wire game, said Blue Comets coach David Parrish, whose team improved to 4-0 in the conference, 4-2 overall. Theyre a great team. Theyre well-coached, theyre disciplined and theyre very fast. We played really good team defense and rotated players on (Deisi Hernandez). Weve been focusing on team soccer.

With the score knotted at 2-all after both 10-minute overtime periods, it came down to five penalty kicks for each team.

AHS went first with Meredith Priest nailing a shot into the left side of the net. SWRs Sarah Teague answered with a similar shot. The Blue Comets Faith Shrewsbury made her first shot, but the official blew his whistle as she went early. Her second try hit off the crossbar. The Cougars Aranza Gallagos saw her attempt hit off the left post, but AHS Riley Clark kicked hers off the right post and it was still 1-1.

The Cougars Deisi Hernandez sank a shot into the left side of the net for a 2-1 lead, but Krystal Jaimes did the same for AHS. Blue Comets keeper Emily Skoglund blocked Bri Cross shot, keeping the PKs at two apiece.

Julia Otranto gave AHS the edge, sinking hers into the right side of the net.

It game down to keeper versus keeper as SWRs Cassie Kopf took the final PK. Skoglund blocked it, giving the Blue Comets the win.

This was just a team effort, said Skoglund, who got the wind knocked out of her with a hard-kicked ball in the first half. Thats how we got here as a team. We just needed to keep fighting the fight. I needed to make stops and they needed to make goals as a team. This shows we have a bright future.

I just told them, Believe, (before the PKs), Parrish said. Thats been our motto this year. I try not to single any one player out. Were gaining confidence. Southwestern Randolph was our kryptonite last year. We needed this.

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Blue Comets edge Cougars on PKs