En route to winning the North Kansas City Tournament, Riley Smith scored four of the Platte County girls’ soccer team’s (13-2) six goals, but it was Lily Kytasaari who saved the day in the championship game.
On a windy, Saturday morning matchup with Smithville (12-2) for the championship in the North Kansas City Tournament – while it was being hosted at Staley High School – it was a Lady Pirates’ freshman who came to the rescue on April 23. In yet another tight contest with its Blue Division rival, Platte County pulled out a 3-2 win after Kytasaari hit the game-winning goal late in regulation.
Smith put the Lady Pirates up early in the game when the senior converted on a penalty kick in the seventh minute. The rest of the half was gritty, scoreless soccer as Platte County regrouped with a 1-0 lead at the break before an eventful opening eight minutes of the second half.
Platte County senior Riley Smith had four of the Lady Pirates six goals in the North Kansas City Tourney.
Smithville came out of the half with two goals in the opening five minutes, starting with a 26-yard free kick in the 44th minute. The Lady Warriors took a 2-1 advantage with a penalty kick almost immediately after their first goal.
Smith took over and slipped the ball past the Smithville goalkeeper at 48’ to knot the game at two goals for the senior’s second score of the day and fourth of the tournament. The next 28 minutes were a slugfest with both defenses keeping their opponent off the scoreboard.
That changed in the 76th minute when Platte County freshman Giada Cucchiara dribbled into the box and found Kytasaari open in the middle. Kytasaari made contact with her right foot to knock down the goal and put Platte County back on top.
The clock was ticking and Smithville was unable to tie or extend the game in the final minutes and the Lady Pirates became North Kansas City Tournament Champions for the third consecutive soccer season. Platte County has now won its last four games and gotten revenge as Smithville was the last team to beat the Lady Pirates.
To reach the championship game, Platte County took down William Chrisman (12-3) on April 21 and then defeated Harrisonville (8-4) on April 22. Both games were scoreless in the first half.
Platte County opened the tournament with a 1-0 victory against William Chrisman with Smith being the only player to score a goal on the day. In the Lady Pirates’ 2-0 win over Harrisonville, Smith and Addison Mayne converted on the goals and they were assisted by Kytasaari and Addison Bradley.
The Lady Pirates will match up with Smithville for the third time this spring – with each Blue Division team having one victory in the season series – on the road on April 28. After that, Platte County will have four more contests until the Class 3 District 8 Tournament at Van Horn High School.