Efficient Panthers claim district title
NOTE: This story was published in The Platte County Citizen- Volume 60, Issue No. 44, May 26, 2021
A packed house was on hand to see the No. 4 ranked Park Hill South Panthers' girls’ soccer team claim its first district championship since 2015 with a 2-0 win in the Class 4 District 15 championship over the No. 11 ranked Liberty North Eagles at Park Hill District Stadium on Wednesday, May 19.
South advanced to the Class 4 State Tournament, where they renewed their rivalry with the Park Hill Trojans in sectionals.
The visiting Eagles opened the game as the aggressors and had their first big chance 10 minutes in when a shot from distance dinged off the crossbar. The Eagles had another opportunity with 15 minutes remaining in the opening half, but South goalkeeper Lauren Longenecker made the save diving to her right, one of her seven saves on the night.
“I think we were a little rattled early on, but we settled down. We started playing our game, not getting too hyped up,” said South head coach Jared Byrne. “This was a good lesson for us because we had a lot of girls cramping and it's getting hotter so the high intensity and the longer that goes at that intensity we have to be match fit.”
With South’s only chance in the first half coming with under nine minutes remaining, the Panthers made it count. After Keegan Good’s free kick was saved, an onrushing Arley Anderson pounced on the rebound and blasted the ball into the top left corner from a tight angle, giving South a 1-0 lead.
South wasn’t out of the woods yet, however, as Liberty North had two great opportunities to close out the half. The first one came with less than six minutes remaining in the opening half, where an Eagles goal was called back for offsides. In the last minute of the half, Liberty North had a flurry of chances as the ball pinballed around the box, forcing South’s Longenecker into several desperation saves. South managed to escape unscathed with a 1-0 advantage after the opening 40 minutes of action.
Four minutes into the second half, the Panthers delivered a killer blow to the Eagles when Liberty North tried playing out of the back from a goal kick, as they had done all night. This time, however, it backfired when South junior Kate Hermelink applied intense pressure to win the ball from the Eagles defender in possession inside the six yard box and beat the keeper, giving South a 2-0 lead with more than 35 minutes remaining in the contest.
“We always talked about those opportunities and those cues for when to press,” Byrne said. “Kate’s an excellent player and she has one of the fastest closing speeds that we’ve seen in a long time. I think she surprises a lot of players.”
Liberty North grew more and more frustrated as neither team created much after the second goal. South was content with that, as all three of its shots on target either scored or led to a goal.
The possession stats were level at 50-50, with the Panthers slightly outpassing the Eagles 125-122. Both teams committed eight fouls with Liberty North getting three corner kicks compared to two for Park Hill South.
This contest was also the first time that the stands were packed since the pandemic. Student sections from both schools made their voices heard for much of the 80 minutes of action.
“Man, that was awesome,” Byrne said. “I think a lot of these kids, as far as the student population, they haven't had an event to go to all year. We kind of were fortunate to reek the benefits of that because everybody showed up.”
The South faithful will likely be back for the intriguing sectionals clash against Park Hill, who previously beat the Panthers 2-1 in March, on May 25, back on home territory.
