Penalty Shootout: Kentucky goalie Casper Mols vs. KSR's Matt Jones

Less than a month removed from the exhilarating World Cup final in Qatar, Lexington Sporting Club hosted the second most exciting penalty shootout in soccer history during Thursday morning’s edition of Kentucky Sports Radio. At stake were Matt Jones’ athletic reputation, cash money, and his argument that scoring on a penalty kick is more random than skill, an argument he made while watching the World Cup during KSR’s Kentucky-Yale pregame show.

Matt believed he was good for a couple of makes on 10 tries, while I insisted he didn’t have the leg to make any. By the end of the show, Commonwealth Causes offered to set up an NIL deal with one of the University of Kentucky’s goalies; a few days later, All-American Casper Mols accepted the challenge and signed with Commonwealth Causes to be the one man between Matt Jones and the back of the net.

For each stop, Mols received $250 for a total of $2,500 at stake with a clean sheet.

For each goal, I agreed to give Matt four dollars from my own pocket, per the original on-air debate on December 10.

Before you see how the PK shootout played out, a tale of the tape:

GOALKEEPER: Casper Mols

Freshman Goalie | 6-4 | 182 lbs. | Aabenraa, Denmark

Standing between Matt Jones and anywhere from four to forty dollars of my hard-earned money, Kentucky goalie Casper Mols, a college freshman from Aabenraa, Denmark, brought his All-American-level goalkeeping to Lexington Sporting Club’s indoor facility for the challenge. Last month, Mols completed his first season as a Kentucky Wildcat with First Team All-American and Sun Belt Conference Goalkeeper of the Year honors for his play on the pitch in the Wildcats’ undefeated regular season. Mols had an 11-1-4 record with only 12 goals allowed in those 16 appearances.

Before Thursday’s shootout, he told KSR he expects to walk away with all of the money.

KICKER: Matt Jones

Never A Kicker But “Tried Out To Be One In High School” | Middlesboro, Kentucky

12 yards from Mols, Matt Jones wore his best Air Max ’95s to try his leg at penalty kicks. But first, he challenged the size of the indoor goal. A fair request, an indoor goal is smaller than the agreed-upon parameters, so a regulation-sized outdoor goal was transported in from another facility across town. To prepare, Matt warmed up against a former NAIA goalie (and Ryan Lemond) during breaks in the radio show.

Watching on from the sideline, Mols said Matt’s kicking motion looked like a shovel.

Now see how “The Shovel” did against the All-American in Commonwealth Causes’ PK shootout:

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