Park Hill senior Allison Estanich is swarmed by her teammates in celebratory fashion after scoring the game-winning goal with less than two minutes left in the opening round of the Class 4 District 8 Tournament against Staley on May 13.
Allison Estanich came to the rescue in the 78th minute of the Park Hill girls’ soccer team’s (7-12) grudge match of a district opener as the senior scored the sole goal of the contest against Staley (8-14) on May 13.
In a win or go home scenario, it was a long day in the opening round of the Class 4 District 8 Tournament. It appeared that the game would go into overtime until Estanich found the back of the net with under two minutes to play in regulation.
With the clock ticking in a scoreless affair, Estanich had possession of the ball with one Staley defender between her and the goal. The Park Hill senior did a series of dribble moves, shaking the defender, and striking the ball with her left foot on the outside of the left box and connected with the top right of the goal.
“I’m just really glad that it was Ally, a senior who’s helped lead the team from the beginning,” Park Hill head girls’ soccer coach Makenzie Heavey said. “She just put it away perfectly and left footed; it was a good goal.”
Although it took almost the entire contest to score, Park Hill had plenty of opportunities. The Lady Trojans controlled the time of possession and were aggressive down the stretch – which included three consecutive corner kicks in the 82nd minute – but the Lady Falcons’ defense continued to keep the No. 4 seed off the scoreboard until the final minutes.
“This is the third time seeing them (Staley), so they made adjustments, but I think we just had a hard time kind of finishing our chances. We knew it was going to come down to moments like this or a set piece or a corner or something like that, so we tried to capitalize on those moments,” Heavey said.
Park Hill took down Staley in both of the regular season matchups and completed the season sweep on a relatively hot day. This win came in perfect timing, not only because it is the postseason but also because the Lady Trojans were coming off a 3-game losing streak and had fell short in four of their last five games of the regular season.
“We’ve had a hard schedule, but one thing we always do is we always fight. I think the common trend is that they work hard, they’re going to give it their all and they’re going to make it hard for teams. And that’s not coaching, that’s them as a group, so we’re proud of them,” Heavey said.
The victory advanced Park Hill to the Class 4 District 8 Semifinals to take on top-seeded Liberty North (17-0) on May 16. Ahead of the postseason matchup, the Lady Eagles had won three of the last four in the series dating back to 2021.