By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — In a state tournament game that ended with bizarre — and dramatic — final minutes, the Staples High girls soccer team prevailed 2-1 (5-4 in penalty kicks) over Greenwich on Friday afternoon.

The Class LL State Tournament quarterfinal featured two overtime goals in a span of about five minutes following 90 minutes of scoreless play, a non-call that had the Staples supporters up in arms, a handball that may not have actually happened, and a really strange penalty kick goal.

Just another day on the pitch.

After a scoreless 80 minutes of regulation the No. 3 Wreckers and No. 6 Cardinals had to play a pair of 10-minute overtime periods. Greenwich struck in controversial fashion with 6:40 left in the second OT.

The go-ahead goal, scored by Julia Gustafsson, came about after a GHS player blocked a Staples free kick — apparently illegally — when she did not allow the necessary 10 yards of space granted on free kick opportunities.

Staples coaches, players and fans alike protested the non-call to no avail.

Irked, but undeterred, the Wreckers pressed on and eventually benefitted when Greenwich was whistled for a handball in the 18-yard box. 

Neva Mermagen made a cross into the top of the box and the play was whistled dead when it hit a Greenwich defender. Natalie Chudowsky scored the PK when she deposited a low shot to the right of Greenwich’s goalkeeper with just 1:07 separating the Wreckers from an end to their season.

Still undecided after 100 minutes of game play, this 1-1 contest went on to a round of penalty kicks.

With Staples shooting first and the teams alternating opportunities, both squads converted on their first four attempts. 

Staples scored on its fifth, but Greenwich did not. 

Staples goalkeeper Sam Henske made a diving stop on the final GHS try, sparking a celebration as Staples players poured onto the field.

The penalty kicks were not without a strange incident — par for the course in this wacky game.

Staples’ fifth PK goal, by Mermagen, appeared at first to be a save for GHS keeper Lauren Huang. The GHS keeper dove left and stopped the shot. 

Just as a Greenwich player celebration began, the excitement quickly transferred to the Staples sideline. Off the apparent save, the ball had so much backspin that it spun a couple of feet and over the goal line as Huang’s momentum pulled her in the opposite direction. That set the stage for Henske’s save-making heroics.

“The beautiful thing about being the goalkeeper is I only have to make the one stop,” Henske said. “I have nothing but utter faith in this team. Every one of them I know can step up and score. All I had to do is save one.”

That was the case thanks to PK net-finders by Gabrila de Brito, Coco Crombie, Evelyn Chudowsky, Natalie Chudowsky and Mermagen.

“It’s a hard way to lose, with penalty kicks, considering how Greenwich played, but I do feel like we deserved to win,” Staples Coach Barry Beattie said.

Beattie was anything but thrilled with the non-call that allowed Greenwich to score in overtime. “To me, and everyone else here, it was an intentional delay of game,” Beattie said of the free kick block. “The ref’s interpretation I don’t agree with.”

Beattie was told by a referee that the Staples player was required to ask for the 10 yards of space. Beattie had never seen anything like this before. “It’s the rule,” he said of players having 10 yards of space on free kicks.

Beattie also believed the call in the box that led to his team’s tying tally was a phantom handball.

This game was a strange one and what turned out to be the decisive goal served as a microcosm of the oddities on the field on this day. 

Beattie had never seen anything like that goal by Mermagen in person. “Only on the internet,” he said.

“It was a great game. You never want to lose these games,” he said.

With the win, Staples moves on to face familiar FCIAC foe No. 2 seed St. Joseph’s of Trumbull in the semis on a date to be determined. (Game schedules are subject to change; click for the latest CIAC updates.)

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.