Before stepping on the field for the senior night matchup against Blue Springs (1-9) on April 12, 327 days had passed since the Park Hill girls’ soccer team (1-9) had won a game.
The Lady Trojans ended the dry spell in style, scoring a season-high four goals and shutting out their opponent, while also having two players have career days. Freshman Kenzie David scored three goals and junior Allison Estanich assisted on every Park Hill score on a windy evening at the Park Hill District Soccer Stadium.
“Kenzie had a hat-trick and Allison had four assists, so it was a good night for those two,” Park Hill girls’ soccer coach Mackenzie Heavey said. “I’ve never had a player have that many assists in a single game before.”
Park Hill has had some struggles with its offense in the opening slate of games – scoring only six total goals in the first eight contests – but David and Estanich helped lead the Lady Trojans to four scores in the last 25:00 of the first half. The Lady Trojans were aggressive on offense in the half with 16 shots and eight shots on goal, along with eight corner kicks.
“We have been working on combining from our midfield and getting the ball to our forwards. It just kind of clicked and was all put together tonight,” Heavey said.
In the 15th minute, Estanich had a corner kick and David connected with the ball and scored the first goal of the night – and her third goal on the season at the time – to give Park Hill a 1-0 lead. In a similar situation 2:30 later, David made contact on a corner kick pass from Estanich and the freshman headbutted the ball through the net.
With 2:40 remaining in the half, Ella Nelson broke loose ahead a pack of Wildcats and was in scoring position. A right-footed kick from the junior right outside of the box slipped through the net to give Park Hill a 3-0 margin.
“The wind was a big factor, but both teams had a play in it. We prepared for it and the girls knew that there was nothing to complain about, we just had to come out and play hard and that’s what we did,” Heavey said.
Park Hill freshman Kenzie David scored her third goal against Blue Springs in the final minute of the first half to help lead the Lady Trojans to a 4-0 win on April 12 after an 0-8 start to the season.
Right under one minute left in the first half, David attempted a goal and the ball rolled slowly towards the Blue Springs goalkeeper. David looked away and started to run back on defense, but unbeknownst to the Park Hill freshman, the ball snuck between the Wildcat goalies’ hands and scored.
David was rushed by her teammates immediately after her third goal was scored and she had her first career hat-trick in her young career. Park Hill continued to be aggressive in the second half yet couldn’t add to the scoreboard as the Lady Trojans came out victorious for the first time this spring.
“It feels good, we definitely needed that. They’ve stayed super positive, the morale of the team has been high, we just needed a win to solidify those feelings,” Heavey said.
The Lady Trojans had lost their opening eight games before taking down Blue Springs, with all but one team – Lee’s Summit North (3-6) – having a winning record. Park Hill fell 2-0 against Liberty (7-4) on April 14.