CRANBOURNE EAST, Victoria -- Nominally, a penalty shootout is a best-of-five contest. Five of your best penalty takers against five of theirs from 12 yards out, with the winner taking it all. Sometimes, more is needed, sometimes less, but that's the general gist of it. That's unless you happen to be Melbourne Victory in Saturday afternoon's A-League Women semifinal win over Melbourne City, when their goalkeeper Casey Dumont effectively won it in the first round of attempts.
As she waited for Katie Bowen to approach the penalty spot for her side's first attempt, the keeper's veneer of concentration broke. It wasn't with a grimace or nerves, though, but a laugh and a grin. Perhaps that should have been a sign. There was no outward display of nerves or some kind of weakness to seize upon, just an unyielding layer of assuredness and belief that her team, she, would find a way to win. Again.
Moments prior, when the 31-year-old had stood over the ball as the two teams broke from their huddles after 120 minutes, it initially looked like some kind of mistake had been made. With so many viable options available to him, surely Victory coach Jeff Hopkins wasn't having his keeper lead off the shootout? Perhaps the custodian was simply standing guard over the ball in order to prevent some kind of gamesmanship skullduggery on the part of City. Maybe it was an attempted act of mental disintegration towards her opposite number, Melissa Barbieri, as one of her teammates approached.
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But then Dumont stayed there and it became apparent that this wasn't a bit. The Victory keeper was going to lead off the first shootout the competition had seen in almost a decade, one that would determine if her side's hopes of a third-straight ALW championship would remain alive.
A cool, almost brazen effort followed. Dumont didn't even break stride as she slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net, sending Barbieri the wrong way, before taking up her place for City's response. Advantage Victory.
In most circumstances, one might expect a keeper to blast the ball as hard as they can, replicate a goal kick and hope the ball's trajectory doesn't rise too quickly before it can find the net. Dumont didn't do that. She placed it. She placed it very well, especially for a player whose national team aspirations have been hampered by the work she does with the ball at her feet.
Bowen's subsequent attempt went left, the same way that Dumont dove, and was placed at a perfect height to be palmed away with a strong, overhand palm. Thoughts of it bouncing in off the rebound were snuffed by a quick recovery. Victory led the shootout.
Right then and there, everyone probably could have gone home. Sure, Melina Ayres, Maja Markovski and Alana Murphy had to convert spot kicks as well, and City's Hannah Wilkinson will be haunted by the sound of her effort clanging off the crossbar, but it all just felt so academic at that point. City would have won the game at a canter had Dumont not already put in a performance for the ages, which included saving a Holly McNamara penalty in the 89th minute. It only felt right that she would win the game up the other end as well.
Casey Dumont steps up to the spot and slots it home...then saves Bowen's strike!
MVC: