Crown Point goalie Lomeli's heroics propel Bulldogs to state finals

WARSAW | Christian Lomeli found himself hoisted up above his teammates Saturday, while chants of "MVP" traveled through the cool night air.

Lomeli, who netted Crown Point's winning penalty kick in the semifinals of the Warsaw Semistate, found himself in that same pressure situation again just hours later.

Lomeli came through again, booting the winning penalty kick past Warsaw goalkeeper David Johnson to give the Bulldogs a 5-3 win in the shootout session and punch the Bulldogs' ticket to next Saturday's state finals.

"It's just amazing. Words can't even describe what I'm feeling right now," Lomeli said. "We worked so hard to get here and came in as underdogs."

Lomeli's defensive heroics didn't go unnoticed during the shootout, either, making a diving save of Jose Rodriguez's penalty kick to set up the game winner.

"This one was more of a guess, because he didn't look anywhere," Lomeli said of his save. "I couldn't really go off an educated guess. I just got lucky."

Crown Point had several chances to win the game in regulation, including two second-half shot attempts from Zach Sneiderwine -- the first slightly wide to the left and the second deflected at nearly point-blank range by Johnson.

"Our guys kind of pushed through and kept fighting," Crown Point coach JR Rosenbaum said. "We had a couple of close chances that I would have preferred went in. Today, we got away with a little bit of luck, so next week we're going to have to come out and play well."

Offensively, the Bulldogs (15-6-2) came out flat in the first half, while Warsaw (18-4-1) attacked C.P. relentlessly. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, defenders like Dan Naumoski and Lomeli came through every time Warsaw threatened.

"We knew they had a couple good players, and we practiced all season long for those good guys," Naumoski said. "Hats off to them. They're excellent players, but the back line controlled them well."

Naumoski, a senior, obviously wants to continue the history-making run Crown Point has put together. This season is the first time the Bulldogs have ever advanced past regionals.

"I'm really proud of my team. Everyone has come together since the beginning of the season," he said. "Everybody doubted us, and nobody ever thought we'd make it this far, but we're proving everybody wrong. We‘re going to win state."