Blais saves USF men’s soccer’s season

Posted Nov 27, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Nov 27, 2011 at 11:10 PM

For the first time in his collegiate career, University of South Florida senior goalkeeper Chris Blais found himself in a penalty kick shootout Sunday evening. But just as he had in similar situations throughout his playing career at various levels, Blais found a comfort zone to help keep the men’s soccer team’s season alive.

Blais, who said he’s always thrived in penalty kick shootouts, did so again in USF’s NCAA tournament third round match against New Mexico, coming up with two key saves to help the seventh-seeded Bulls advance past the 10th-seeded Lobos on penalty kicks (6-5) after the two teams played to a scoreless tie through regulation and two overtime periods.

USF (13-3-4) has now matched its deepest run in the postseason tournament and will play at No. 2 Creighton on Saturday with a spot at the College Cup Final Four in Hoover, Ala., on the line.

“Those are the kind of feelings you work really hard for in college, to win a game like that,” Blais said. “To win it on a shootout is a pretty fun experience.”

It was the Bulls who stumbled first in the penalty kicks, putting the pressure on Blais. However, after watching USF’s leading scorer, junior forward Dom Dwyer, have his shot attempt stopped by New Mexico keeper Victor Rodriguez, Blais turned away a shot by the Lobos leading scorer, Blake Smith, to keep things even at 2.

Each team converted on its next three attempts, and USF then got a sixth conversion from senior midfielder Santi Alexis, who had not appeared in the game to that point.

“We had a few guys that had been cold that were willing to take them,” USF coach George Kiefer said. “Obviously we’ve practiced these since the Big East tournament. It’s just a routine thing. Just go up and be solid with it. The beauty of being a shooter for USF is you know Blais is going to make a save or two, so it takes a lot of pressure off you.”

And Blais immediately came through again, diving to his right to stone Carson Baldinger on New Mexico’s (18-0-4) next attempt to set off a wild celebration among the record crowd of 3,592.

“I felt like I was leaving a little bit too early early on, and that’s probably some because you’re just so jacked up during the PKs,” Blais said. “I tried to keep my ground as long as I could so he didn’t know which way I was going, and then went the right way.

“When I saw the ball leave his foot, I knew I was going to save it.”