RIVERSIDE, Mo. — Only 10 months removed from shocking Lee’s Summit West in the state title match, Park Hill was dealt a dose of revenge.

And quite a significant one, too.

The Trojans, who dropped both 2018 regular season matches to Lee’s Summit West by a combined score of 6-0 before earning a 3-2 win in the state title game over the Titans last May, didn’t have an answer for a youthful Titans’ club on Friday, March 22.

Ultimately, Lee’s Summit West earned a convincing 3-0 victory over Park Hill in the Suburban Gold opener for both squads at the Park Hill district soccer stadium.

“Surprising,” Titans coach Shaun Owens said when asked how he viewed the result. “We prepared for it to be a test and a battle. We lost 10 starters so we did not expect this result, but I’m more proud of the way we played as a team.”

“They came out ready,” Park Hill coach Brandt Bell said of Lee’s Summit West (2-0, 1-0). “They had really good possession and forced us into a situation where we were chasing a ton in the first half, and that kind of took our legs from us.”

After 20 minutes of scoreless action, the Titans struck with a pair of goals. Junior Hope Dietrich found the back of the net in the 20th minute, as she finished off an assist from sophomore Taylor Reid.

Only a minute later, freshman Joey Fasnow scored an unassisted goal to give Lee’s Summit West an eventual 2-0 advantage at halftime.

“We’ve been really focusing on possession and being patient,” Owens said. “But, most importantly, being able to keep our shape has allowed us to do that and they’re picking it up real quick.”

Sophomore Madison Staples delivered the final goal in the 52nd minute, finishing a Fasnow assist.

“We were able to possess the ball a little bit in the second half whereas in the first half we really struggled to connect passes,” Bell said.

Following the loss, the Trojans (1-1, 0-1) stared down a similar early-season defeat to their league foe. Last season Park Hill suffered a 5-0 defeat to Lee’s Summit West in its second match of the season before losing 1-0 on May 1. Then came the 3-2 triumph in the Class 4 finals more than a month later.

“We were 5-0 against them in this game last year,” Bell said. “We’re not happy with the result, but we know that we can have some room for improvement. … It definitely sets us up well to have a rematch with them later in the year and give us some motivation.”

The Trojans and Titans are scheduled to go at it again on April 23 in Lee’s Summit.

St. James Academy 2, Park Hill 2 (SJA wins in PK)

Park Hill fell in penalty kicks to St. James Academy in the opening round of the Bob Durig MO-KAN Tournament on Monday, March 25 at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, Kan.

St. James (Lenexa, Kan.) converted all four of its penalty kick tries against the Trojans, who missed two of their three attempts. Senior Aleece Noble and sophomore Olivia Noble couldn’t convert from the spot and sophomore Avery Mertz was successful on her try.

The Thunder (2-0) received conversions from Reagan Hazell, Paige Miranda, Caylee Thornhill and Kelly Kleekamp. Jenny Mathews made two PK saves in between the posts for St. James.

St. James got on the board first with an early goal from Kerry Devine. But Park Hill responded with goals from Jordan Austin and Ayana Weissenfluh for an eventual 2-1 halftime advantage.

The Thunder evened the scoreline on a Paige Pavich goal midway through the second half. The 2-2 deadlock remained at the end of full time, sending the game straight to PKs.

The Trojans play the St. Teresa’s Academy-Olathe Northwest (Kan.) loser in the second round of the tourney at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27 at Aquinas.

Park Hill South (0-1), who dropped its season opener against Park Hill on March 15, hosted Fort Osage for its second match of the season on Tuesday, March 26. The result was unavailable before press time.

Blue Springs South 1, Platte County 0

A second half goal was all the Blue Springs Wildcats needed to down the host Pirates in the fifth-place game of the Platte County Invitational on Wednesday, March 20 in Platte City.

Sophomore Lily Queen notched the lone goal off a corner kick for Blue Springs, who improved to 2-1 at the time.

The Pirates (1-2) registered five shots in the contest, and junior Jaylee Wiedmer gloved three saves in goal.

Staley took first place in the invitational with a 1-0 win over Blue Springs South.

The Pirates plays next at Grandview at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28 before hosting Smithville on April 2.