South run ends in quarterfinals
NOTE: This story was published in The Platte County Citizen- Volume 60, Issue No. 45, June 2, 2021
The No. 4 ranked Park Hill South Panthers’ girls’ soccer team’s 13 game unbeaten run came to an end when they suffered a 2-0 season-ending loss to the No. 7 ranked St. Teresa’s Academy (STA) Stars in the State Quarterfinal on Saturday, May 29, at McDonnell Family Sports Complex on the campus of STA.
This was the first time the Panthers made it to the State Quarterfinals since 2012, when they lost 4-0 to Lee’s Summit North.
After battling back-and-forth, the Stars found the breakthrough with 15 minutes remaining in the first half. Senior Katherine Gibson battled through a number of challenges and slid the ball past the keeper.
The Stars went 2-0 up six minutes into the second half when Gibson was at the center of the attack once again. The opportunity came from a great touch from her before she centered the ball for junior Emily Franklin, who remained composed in front of goal and passed the ball straight down the middle after the South keeper dove away.
The Panthers weren’t done yet. They replied by creating two chances within minutes of going 2-0 down. The first chance was kept out by a diving save from Stars' goalkeeper Emma Bessenbacher. Moments later, South came close again, but the shot was cleared off the line.
Midway through the second half, the Stars nearly found their third of the day when junior Saige Wimes had a great solo run before she pulled her shot just wide at the near post.
The Panthers ended the game with just two shots on target from 16 attempts. South also had 54% of the possession and outpassed the Stars 267-160.
This loss was just the third time that South gave up multiple goals in a game, and the first time they had been scored on in a month after six consecutive shutouts. Offensively, it was just the second time they had been shutout all season.
South’s season ends with a final record of 16-4-1, including a 3-1 postseason record.
This loss also draws an end to the high school careers for 11 seniors for South. Of those 11, six of them were regular starters for the final stretch of the season: goalkeeper Lauren Longenecker; defenders Lina Navarro and Sofia Fatino; midfielder Adah Anderson; and forwards Arley Anderson and Emma Gillespie.
“A lot of them came in as freshmen, starting on varsity and it's just continued to improve,” South head coach Jared Byrne said. “Setting our culture, setting our expectations, raising the bar for what our program looks like; even if we're not getting to where we want to go this year, their legacy continues for the future.”
South will still retain much of their offensive firepower with juniors Olivia Gates, Keegan Good and Kate Hermelink getting one more year. Along with a new goalkeeper, they will look to some different faces defensively since Navarro and Fatino will be gone. They still have another year with junior defender Jayme Dixon and three more with freshman Lilly Reuscher.
“We’re real deep,” Byrne said. “We have a lot of underclassmen and getting to this moment, I don’t think that satisfied anybody. For the girls that will be back next year, I think it gives them a hunger and a bad taste in their mouth that they're going to want to work even harder next year to get past this moment.”
