By John Bombatch for the Middletown Journal

SHARONVILLE — Matt Mutlu guaranteed he’d score as Fenwick coach Andy Vollmer sent him into Tuesday night’s overtime period at Princeton Viking Stadium.

The Division III, Cincinnati 1 district semifinal match with fifth-seeded Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy had already gone through a pair of regulation halves and had ended up in a 1-1 tie. Now the two talented soccer powers were battling in overtime, so Mutlu’s prediction was a bold one.

“He told me he was going to come back and shake my hand after he scored,” Vollmer said.

Minutes later Mutlu got a breakaway scoring try, was quite literally tackled at the Princeton 5-yard line and ultimately scored the winning goal on the resulting penalty kick to give the fourth-seeded Falcons the 2-1 win.

A minute after that, he shook his coach’s hand.

“I’ve always said that 50-percent of all penalty kicks are half mental,” Vollmer, still understandably a bit excited over the win, tried to explain.

He made his point though. When the game’s on the line, you want a player who can handle a do-or-die penalty kick with confidence.

Matt Mutlu fit the bill.

As the Falcon senior feigned to his right, Eagles goalie Scott Cacchiotti rolled that way as well. Mutlu then reversed his shot into the left corner.

He was soon mobbed at about the Princeton 20 by his teammates, while Cacchiotti lay crumpled in front of the Eagle goal.

“That’s one of the best goalies around, and we really worked to score against him tonight,” Vollmer said.

CHCA (11-7-1) jumped out in front at 28:58 of the first half. That’s when the Eagles’ John Horvath, the team’s leader in scoring this year with 20 goals, broke free down the middle and advanced deep into Falcon territory.

He was greeted by a Fenwick defender who collided hard with the CHCA senior forward just outside the Fenwick penalty box and was called for the foul.

Horvath’s free kick from about 22-yards out was deflected away, but he collected his own rebound. That shot clanged off the right post, past two Fenwick defenders, right to CHCA’s Kyle Smith who poked home the go-ahead score.

Mutlu tied the game in the second half of regulation in a bit of a family first. Younger brother Andrew Mutlu (born May 27, 1989) hit a free kick from the left corner to older sibling Matt (born May, 28, 1988), who then headed the tying shot from the right side.

“That’s the first time that’s ever happened,” Matt said. “Great timing!”

Fenwick (15-2-1) will play Mid-Miami League rival Monroe in the next run, at 7 p.m., Saturday at Cincinnati Mariemont High School.

View Article at Middletown Journal