The Park Hill South girls’ soccer team (2-1) is off to a solid start to the spring season after winning two of its first three games.
Park Hill South was almost flawless in its season opener against Oak Park (2-1) when the Lady Panthers won on a mercy rule by an 8-0 score on March 24. Park Hill South did its most damage in the first half with seven goals, starting two minutes into the game when Mackenzie Wright found Olivia Clemons for the Lady Panthers’ first goal of the spring.
Clemons also scored the final goal of the first half in the 20th minute when Suzi Schulze had her second assist. Kate Hermelink had a remarkable outing when the senior made three goals – on her only attempts of the night – and also had one assist.
Olivia Gates and Wright both connected with the back of the net in the opening half to put the Lady Panthers up 7-0 at the break. Wright gained her third assist of the contest at 51’ when she passed the ball to Schulze to seal the game with the Lady Panthers’ eighth unanswered goal; Keegan Good also had two assists on the night.
Park Hill South’s next game was supposed to be the season opener contest but was postponed due to rain when it matched up with Park Hill (0-3) on March 25. After the Lady Panthers lost eight consecutive games against its biggest rival dating back to 2015, Park Hill South has now won two straight contests against Park Hill.
The Lady Panthers eliminated the Lady Trojans in the 2021 postseason by a score of 6-0 and then took down the Lady Trojans 5-1 to give them their second loss of the season. Park Hill also lost to Liberty North (1-0) 3-2 on March 22.
In the matchup between the Hill’s, the Lady Trojans scored the first goal in the 28th minute before the Lady Panthers closed out the game with five unanswered goals. Park Hill South dominated the time of possession in the first half with 63 percent of the time on offense.
Park Hill South sophomore forward Olivia Clemons is tied with senior Kate Hermelink with a team-high three goals in the Lady Panthers first three games, while Clemons also has one assist and Park Hill South has a 2-1 record.
Five different Lady Panthers found the back of the net, starting with Schulze taking a pass from Gates and going the distance at 30’. Park Hill went into the locker room trailing 3-1 when Clemons and Good both converted on a goal in the opening half.
Gates and Anna Bolger made a pair of goals in the 50th and 52nd minutes off assists from Good and Clemons. After the loss to its rival, Park Hill went on to come up short 1-0 against Blue Valley Northwest (2-0) in the opening round of the Bob During MO-KAN Tournament on March 28.
Park Hill South had an opportunity to start off 3-0 for the first time since 2011 when the Lady Panthers hosted Blue Valley (1-4), but was unable to do that on March 28. The Lady Tigers scored two goals in a 30 second span in the opening half to put the Lady Panthers in an early 2-0 hole.
It was a back-and-forth game in terms of possession as the Lady Panthers led the way with 51 percent of possession in the first half and the second half was even with both teams being on offense 50 percent of the half. The Lady Tigers had four shots on goal in the opening half, while the Lady Panthers didn’t have any shots on goal with six shot attempts.
Park Hill South had two shots on goal in the second half and Wright converted on a goal at 58’. The Lady Panthers’ next game will be against Nixa (2-1) on April 1, while the Lady Trojans will continue to compete in the Bob During MO-KAN Tournament this week.