Shawnee Mission West girls earn spot in Kansas 6A semifinals

It only took four minutes for Shawnee Mission West to score Tuesday night, and that was OK with the Vikings.

That goal gave SM West a 1-0 victory over Blue Valley in a Kansas 6A quarterfinal match. The win came a few days after SM West trudged through four overtimes to get to the quarterfinals, and it gave the Vikings a spot in the state semifinals beginning Friday in Junction City.

SM West, 18-0-1, wasted no time creating the initial margin. Senior forward Hannah Miller wriggled free atop the penalty box about 3  1/2 minutes into the match and fired a left-footed strike over the middle of the defense from about 25 yards out.

“She just got one little step in and had an amazing shot,” SM West coach Sarah Gonzalez said. “People are scared of Hannah for a good reason, because when she does get a step, she’s amazing.”

Blue Valley struggled getting shots off in the first half, and it let two corner kicks go to waste. One of those, on a rebound, was thwarted by a leaping, one-handed stop by SM West goalie Ashton Dvorak.

It was the most acrobatic Dvorak would have to be all night, with few solid chances coming her way. The Vikings hung back in maintenance mode for most of the second half, holding tight to their 1-0 lead.

“We do best possessing the ball,” Miller said. “We work it around and find the slots to finish instead of just kicking it around. We knew we were ahead, so we had to possess and move it around and make sure they didn’t get any chances.”

Miller is third all-time for SM West in goals scored, but her left-footed strike Tuesday night was a little sweeter. After playing in a 6A third-place game two years in a row, Miller and her team are hungry for another chance at the semifinals.

Miller’s goal, and Tuesday’s win, gives them one more opportunity to make that jump.

“This year, it’s the hump we have to get over,” Miller said. “We want the finals so bad.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission West girls earn spot in Kansas 6A semifinals."