19 May @ Lansing (1-0 4 OT's)
We were 2:08 from perhaps the first and last match of the season looking pretty similar: 0-0 and a shootout. But we found Marge in that space underneath and she slipped it to Hallie. Game over. But it all starts with Meg and Brigid applying defensive pressure, and then Romme moving the ball 3 levels forward with a beautiful ball to Marge's feet.
A 20th regional title for Saints girls soccer—Wow. Lansing played very very well especially in the middle of the field. And they got their freshman goal scorer free in the first half, but she just missed wide. Calvert's late charge at her probably had a lot to do with it.
Our defense pretty much squashed all else, but we did finally have to play Crow, a hurt Crow. But she gutted it out, and we did not allow even a sniff of goal with her in there. They did hit a few balls towards goal on some long deadballs.
BWhite named Mallory Heying as the BWhite Player of the Match. She just battled in that middle area where we lost possession so often. She stopped many an attempt to connect to their frontrunners. But that whole backline and our subs to that backline held tight together all night. Calvert and Company have had a remarkable year, continuing to hold opponents to less than 1/2 a goal a game.
BWhite named Mallory Heying as the BWhite Player of the Match. She just battled in that middle area where we lost possession so often. She stopped many an attempt to connect to their frontrunners. But that whole backline and our subs to that backline held tight together all night. Calvert and Company have had a remarkable year, continuing to hold opponents to less than 1/2 a goal a game.
We will see how the rest of the night plays out to see who we draw in the State Quarters on Tuesday.
But let's savor this one a little.
Stats:
First Half:
Saints. Shots. 8 (3). Corner.
Lions. Shot. 1 (0). Corner. 1. (Klanke)
Second Half and OT.
Saints. 11 (6). Corners. 3. (Klanke. Moss. Jackson)
2:08 4OT. Klanke. (Pigott slips it through).
Lions. Shots. 4. (1). Corners. 1.
So much more in defeat
- Lansing girls take champs to the wire, fall in 4 OT
COMMENT
Submitted photo / Katrin HoldenGeorgia Watkins (7) and the Lansing Lions' girls' soccer team fell 1-0 in the fourth overtime of the Northeast Regional No. 4 final, to the 6-time defending Class 5A state champions, St. Thomas Aquinas, Thursday.
By ALAN DALE
adale@leavenworthtimes.com
Posted May. 19, 2016 at 9:04 PM
For any true competitor, moral victories are akin to buying a cocker spaniel and naming it “Wolf.”
It’s cute on the outside, but pales in comparison to the real thing.
The Lansing Lion girls’ soccer team didn’t want any type of cute story Thursday afternoon on their home field.
They wanted respect.
They wanted St. Thomas Aquinas’ respect.
Mission accomplished, even if the bigger prize slipped out of Lansing’s grasp in the waning moments of a fourth extra period and 108 minutes of soccer.
That prize would be the Class 5A Northeast Regional No. 4 title and a place in the Class 5A state quarterfinal next week.
However, Saint freshman forward Hallie Klanke won her personal dual with Lansing’s own first-year wonder striker Sydni Bolewski, with a blistering attack and finish as a shootout beckoned to lift the six-time defending Class 5A state champions from St. Thomas Aquinas to a hard-fought 1-0 victory.
It was quite a departure from last year’s 7-0 state quarterfinal by the Saints over the Lions.
The No. 4 seeded Lions (12-4-1) had plenty of opportunities to win and in many ways outplayed the No. 5 seeded Saints, but in the end, that one big ball fell in the champs’ lap and they made it count.
“You couldn’t have asked our team to do a better job, we played our hearts out,” junior Lion Brittany Valient said. “We wanted to win and in the end, it took forever for them to get that goal and they did because they broke our defense down. We still played with our all.
“We were definitely motivated (by last year’s loss). I think came in here and expected to kill us. We knew we could give them a really good match.”
Lansing head coach Adam Cogswell was pleased with his team’s performance despite the loss in such a dramatic manner.
“It was a really tough, physical battle all around the field,” Cogswell said. “We did very well in the middle of the field, we were aggressive on 50-50 balls, we put them under pressure all of the time and that was our game plan. We didn’t want them to have time and space to move and we executed that really, really well.
“I think we got bit by fatigue at the end there. We got caught out of shape and they capitalized on it. Give them credit. They took the opportunity that was there and finished it. I couldn’t have been prouder of this group. They went toe-to-toe and did not quit.”
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