4-1A girls soccer: Trinity advances in shootout
ROSE HILL Trinity Academy, making its first Class 4-1A girls soccer semifinal appearance, endured a long road Friday for a title shot.
And one of its five seniors propelled the Knights into today’s championship game.
“We’re going to the dance,” Knights coach Tom Nykamp said.
Trinity and St. James Academy battled to a 3-3 tie through 110 minutes, then each team hit 3 of 5 penalty kicks. But it went all the way to eighth kicker Abby Reusser before the Knights (16-4) pulled out a 5-4 shootout victory.
In today’s final, the Knights will face Topeka Hayden, which ousted them in the 2011 quarterfinals.
“We practice for situations like this, and I was really excited because I wanted to get this win for our team being that it’s our first time here and we wanted to make a statement,” Reusser said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been that nervous, but it’s fine.”
Reusser’s winner took the heat off sophomore goalkeeper Ashley West, who faced eight penalty shots after replacing starter Allie Ruschen for the kicks.
“I was so scared,” West said. “I was just so thankful. I did not want to make another save.”
At halftime, the game looked like anything but a Trinity victory.
St. James (7-12-1) had a 2-0 halftime lead going with the wind, but Trinity forged a 2-2 tie in the second half on goals by West and Taylor Billings within two minutes. Trailing 3-2, Trinity freshman Caroline Zielke then knotted it at 3-3 when she took a rebound of a header and stuck it in with 4:26 to play.
After 30 minutes of scoreless overtime, the teams went to penalty kicks.
St. James hit its first three, while Trinity missed two. But freshmen Shiloh Miller and Zielke scored, forcing extra kicks.
West stopped one of two, then scored one. She then stopped Rebecca Weimer, setting the stage for Reusser.
| St. James | 2 1 0 | 0 0 0 | — | 3 |
| Trinity | 0 3 0 | 0 0 0 | — | 3 |
First half—St. James, Mitchell (unassisted); Mitchell (unassisted). Second half—Trinity, West (unassisted), Billings (unassisted); St. James, Kerner (Mitchell); Trinity, Zielke. Penalty kicks – St. James 4-8 (Miitchell, Kerner, Bila, Brophy), Trinity 5-8 (Billings, S. Miller, Zielke, West, Reusser). Shots—James 3-1-0-2-0-2—8; Trinity 4-3-1-0-0-0—8. Saves – St. James, A. Flax 4-0-1-0-0-0—5; Trinity, Ruschen 1-0-0-2-0-2—5.
T. Hayden 4, Tonganoxie 0
| T. Hayden | 1 | 3 | — | 4 |
| Tonganoxie | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
First half – Hayden, K. Watson (unassisted). Second half — Hayden, Barry (unassisted), Myers (Wolfe), R. Watson (unassisted). Shots — Hayden 6-7—13, Tonganoxie 1-0 — 1. Saves — Hayden, Pimentel 1-0—1; Tonganoxie, Stilgenbauer 5-4—9.