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Senior goalkeeper John Friess makes a season-saving stop for the St. Vincent-St. Mary boys soccer team. The save came on a breakaway CVCA shot at the end of the first overtime and the Irish eventually won Monday's district semi on PKs.

AKRON, Ohio – St. Vincent-St. Mary goalkeeper John Friess isn’t shy.

Midway through Monday’s Division II boys district semifinal soccer match, the senior asked a couple of photographers on the edge of John Cistone Field to “get a couple of pictures of me for my grandmother.”

Well, grandma is going to be thrilled to have one frame in particular on her mantel for the holidays.

With St. V-M’s season hanging in the balance, Friess made a fully-horizontal save on a breakaway, point-blank CVCA opportunity to keep the score 1-1 with 38 seconds left in the first overtime.

The sixth-ranked Irish (12-2-4) eventually won the match 4-3 on penalty kicks and Friess and junior Robby Dambrot, who punched home the decisive penalty kick, became buried in a dog pile on the artificial turf.

“That was an incredible save,” St. V-M coach John Stavros said. “Your goalies gets an opportunity to win a game and then that was it. That’s when your goalie wins a game. That was phenomenal.”

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Friess, who had a bobble early in the match, which CVCA senior Sachem Wilson turned into a 1-0 halftime lead for the Royals (11-5-2), made every play after that to give his team another shot at Suburban League champion Revere (14-0-4) for the district title.

“At that point in the game, it’s just instinct,” said Friess when asked about his season-saving stop. “You know what you are supposed to do. There’s no way to explain what’s going through head at that time. It happens so fast. You just try to do what you can to win it for your team.

“Day in and day out, no matter what the circumstances are, we’re doing it for each other, and that’s what it’s about.”

Stavros, a former goalkeeper himself, has tutored Friess and now has guided St. V-M three district finals in the last four years.

“He just came out with so much poise and enthusiasm and great technique, I just got a calmness (about me), and he made the save, like he’s done so many other times.

“John is just one of the best players on our team. It was his moment to shine and he rose to the occasion.”

Early in the second half, St. V-M senior Antonio Manfut took advantage of a CVCA miscue when the ball bounced through and past a CVCA defender near midfield. Manfut pounced on the loose ball and raced through the middle of the field toward a one-on-one opportunity with Royals’ net minder Nate Rogers.

“It fell on a platter,” Manfut said.

He slipped his shot just inside the left post for his 17th goal of the season and a 1-1 tie with 35:28 left in regulation time.

“After we beat them on their home field (earlier in the season 3-1), I just knew this game was going to be 10 times more intense,” the speedy 5-foot-4 striker said.

The two overtimes periods provided as many thrills in 30 minutes as the first 80 minutes had done.

After Dambrot tried to twist his way through the CVCA defense with 8:50 left in the first overtime, Friess made a sprawling save on Wilson’s hit at the other end.

At 9:03 of the second overtime, Rogers made an excellent save on Manfut’s direct kick from below the 18 and to the left of the box. Rogers managed to push the ball over the top.

Manfut had two more chances that were on target, but each was handled by Rogers.

With the PK score 3-3, Dambrot had the final shot to break the tie and win the match.

“I’ve been in that situation before at regionals,” said Dambrot, recalling an experience from when he was 12 years old. “I knew I had a chance to win the game, so I had to capitalize. I just picked my side, took a deep breath and hoped for the best.”

For coach Jon Taylor and his Royals, it was a tough way to end after four straight trips to the OHSAA state finals.

“My favorite part about this team is that they really got the most out of what they had,” Taylor said. “I think you could see a huge difference from the beginning of the season to the middle part of the season and then the end of the season. I think we were three different teams. I was very pleased with our guys today and really, really pleased with their effort and their understanding of the game and how to play. I was very proud of them today. I felt like we played well. We created chances and we were knocking on the door and we scored early and they scored early in the second half and the result held and then PKs are PKs.”

Also in a Kent Div. II District boys semifinal:

REVERE 1, ARCHBISHOP HOBAN 0. At Bath Township, Mike Santucci scored on a long free kick from Drew Kimberly in the 74th minute to keep the second-ranked Minutemen (14-0-4) undefeated and on track for a third straight district championship.

Brunswick Div. II District boys semifinal:

MARLINGTON 3, COVENTRY 0. At Alliance, senior forward Cameron Binkley scored two goals as the Marlington Dukes (14-2-2) ended Coventry's dream season.

Coach Kiel Cox and his Comets (11-4-3) were Portage Trail Conference Metro Division and sectional champions.

Coventry senior Eric Ashley finished the season with 31 goals and six assists.