PLATTE COUNTY – It’s been an up-and-down girls’ soccer season among the three teams in Platte County.
Park Hill South (17-1), Park Hill (4-12) and Platte County (8-9) have had relatively different springs. The postseason is right around the corner with two teams having one regular season game left.
Park Hill South has had a magical season, having its one loss come in double overtime on the road to Lee’s Summit (11-2-2) on April 11. That snapped a 10-game winning streak at the time.
Not counting the Lady Panthers’ home rematch with Lee’s Summit on May 7, they have won the last seven games. They will head to Lee’s Summit North (10-5) for the regular season finale on May 9.
In games decided in regulation, Park Hill South has scored at least two goals in every game and has recorded nine shutouts in totality. The strong play has resulted in the No. 1 seed in the Class 4 District 8 Tournament – which will be played at Oak Park – and a favorable first-round matchup with St. Joseph’s Central (8-8) on May 11 at 10 a.m.
Park Hill is in the same district but hasn’t had as successful a season as its cross-town rivals. Being on the wrong side of nine shutout losses, three of which were in overtime, there has been some offensive struggles.
Having lost the first three games of the season and having an unideal 1-7 record right over halfway though the season, the Lady Trojans picked it up with three wins out of four games. Since then, they haven’t scored a goal and have fell in three four games with the most recent one being by 2-0 in the road matchup with Liberty (6-14) on May 6.
Park Hill hosts Staley (6-11) to close out the regular season on May 8. Even though the regular season hasn’t produced many wins, the Lady Trojans are a top-4 seed in districts.
Park Hill earned the No. 4 seed and matchup with Liberty in the first round on May 11 at 12 p.m. The Lady Panthers and Lady Trojans could potentially meet in the district semifinals if they both win, which would be on May 13 at 4 p.m.
Platte County is on the verge of back-to-back losing seasons following the second consecutive slow start. A season after starting off 0-5 and finishing 11-12, the first four games of the season were losses.
The Lady Pirates bounced back with six wins over the next eight games to get over .500 but followed that up with back-to-back-to-back losses. They showed up when it mattered with a pair of 3-0 White Division wins over William Chrisman (8-13) and Belton (1-11) to move to 8-9.
Platte County closed out the regular season on the road against Grain Valley (13-4) on May 7. The Lady Pirates enter the Class 3 District 8 Tournament as the No. 6 seed.
Platte County will meet up with Smithville (10-3-1) in the first round and will look for a better result than the 3-1 loss early this season. The postseason game will be at Smithville High School on May 13 at 6:30 p.m.