Ryle fell to defending state champion St. Xavier 3-1 in penalty kicks Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the KHSAA boys soccer state semifinals. The match was played at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington.

The Raiders and Tigers played to a 1-1 draw through 80 minutes of regulation and two five-minute overtime periods. according to LINK nky. The loss ended Ryle's season at 24-4-1.

St. Xavier entered the match undefeated and nationally ranked. The Tigers struck first when Logan Seales scored off an assist from James Walker less than two minutes in.

Ryle answered in the 12th minute. Cooper Neace broke free in the midfield and drew a foul from St. Xavier goalkeeper Thomas Kron, who took Neace's legs out in a one-on-one opportunity. Chase McCarthy converted the penalty kick to tie the score at 1-1.

The score held from there, but not without drama. St. Xavier hit the crossbar three times: once in the closing seconds of the first half, again late in the second half and a third in the final seconds of the first overtime. Ryle's best second-half chance came in the 62nd minute, when Daniel Lopez sent a sliding shot just wide of the left post.

Junior goalkeeper Andrew Stropko made seven saves for the Raiders, according to NKyTribune. St. Xavier outshot Ryle 19-9 overall and 8-4 in shots on goal. The Tigers took eight corner kicks to Ryle's zero.

Shootout slips away

In the best-of-five penalty-kick format, St. Xavier's Brady Youssefizad opened with a shot into the bottom-left corner. Danny Harding fired just wide for Ryle. Tigers midfielder Max Fahey then hit the right post, and Maddox Rollins converted for Ryle to even the shootout at 1-1.

James Walker scored for St. Xavier in the third round. McCarthy missed wide right. Seales converted in the fourth round, and Kron denied Damien Lakkis to seal the 3-1 shootout win.

"We've been practicing them, but it's different to do it down here in a state final four game when you've played what 90 minutes of soccer and you got all the fans over here," Ryle coach Stephen Collins said, according to LINK nky. "That's a whole lot different than when you do it at practice."

A familiar ending

The semifinal loss continued a painful pattern. Ryle has now lost every state semifinal it has reached since 2017. LINK nky counted five trips; NKyTribune put the number at four in seven years. Three of those defeats came in penalty kicks, including two against St. Xavier.

Collins said the Raiders bounced back this season after missing the Ninth Region tournament altogether last year. The team adopted a second formation and a more team-first approach.

"If I stay around long enough we're going to win one of these," Collins said. "It's been quite a few of these that we've had to go through, but hey, they played hard … number two team in the country, and I think we gave them all they could handle, and that's all we could ask."

Ryle will graduate 19 seniors from this year's roster. NKyTribune reported that Neace and Lakkis were named to the state all-tournament team.

St. Xavier (24-0-1) advances to the state championship against Lexington Dunbar on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Lexington Sporting Club.