Goalkeeper Pierre Gardan had never been in a shootout and Sami Phelps had never converted a penalty but both came up when West Chester United needed them most to send the local amateurs through to the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
“At practice I wasn’t saving as many as I would have liked to but I knew if it went to PKs I was going to save at least one,” said Gardan, a former VCU goalkeeper from France who joined West Chester United about six weeks ago. “I remember thinking there’s no way you go through six PKs without saving any of them.