Kearney girls lose in Missouri Class 3 state soccer semifinals
The Kearney girls soccer team spent the first 30 minutes of Friday’s Missouri Class 3 semifinal against St. Dominic defending for dear life, a combination of nerves and having to insert two new defenders on the back line after a pair of starters were suspended for picking up red cards in the quarterfinals.
Despite all of that, the Bulldogs took a one-goal lead into halftime.
The bill for all that effort came due in the second half. St. Dominic kept up the pressure, and came away with a 3-2 victory at Swope Soccer Complex.
St. Dominic (25-2-1) will play St. Louis-area rival Rockwood Summit in the Class 3 title game on Saturday at 4 p.m. Kearney (20-3) faces Union in the third-place game at noon.
Kearney’s lead came courtesy of junior Caroline Kelly, who scored her 37th goal of the season to put Kearney up 1-0.
“It was awesome. I got goosebumps when I scored. After having to keep running after them, and then just getting the goal after not having the ball in the first place, it was awesome,” Kelly said.
St. Dominic tied the game just eight minutes into the second half. The Crusaders took the lead six minutes later on a superb strike from freshman Avery Malloy.
“We were down our center mid and center back, and it would’ve been nice to have seen it with the full roster,” Kearney coach Amanda Hopkins said. “We didn’t adjust to the grass well, and it played slow. And we didn’t put pace on the ball, which caused us some difficulty.”
Malloy created space at the top of the 18-yard box by making a defender miss, then sent a curling rocket into the top left corner of the Kearney net.
“It seems as if we got tired really early, and that just lasted throughout the whole game,” Kelly said.
Kelly had a prime opportunity to equalize moments later, when she got a breakaway after running onto a St. Dominic turnover. She made an extra move to get the ball onto her right foot, giving the St. Dominic defender a chance to recover and make the block.
“I should’ve probably shot it with my left foot. I thought I could spin around them and get the easy goal, but it would’ve been easy either way,” Kelly said.
The Bulldogs could have moped their way through the final eight minutes after going down 3-1, but they didn’t. Kelly created another opportunity when she almost beat St. Dominic goalkeeper Allison Palmatier from distance. The shot bounced off the underside of the crossbar, and Caysi Brown put home the rebound with four minutes left to get Kearney back into the game.
The Bulldogs forced St. Dominic to defend their lead right up until the final seconds.
“I’ve said the entire time I’ve coached Kearney girls, they don’t give up. They are fighters through and through,” Hopkins said. “I think that’s a reflection of our entire coaching staff, down the line. They just don’t quit.”
Kearney has one last chance today to end the season with the win and bring home a trophy.