NORTH KANSAS CITY – Park Hill (5-12) faced an uphill battle when giving up a goal in the opening four minutes of the Class 4 District 8 Girls’ Soccer Tournament at Oak Park High School on May 11.
Park Hill sophomore Jovie Lavin holds off a Liberty defender while dribbling the ball in the first half of the 1-0 postseason loss at Oak Park High School on May 11.
The third matchup of the season against Liberty (6-15) resulted in the same goal margin as the first two. Park Hill had won 1-0 in overtime on March 11 and fell 3-2 on May 6 in the regular season meetings.
Liberty struck first in districts and held on to that 1-0 lead for the rest of the game to send Park Hill home with a first-round exit. The Lady Blue Jays took possession early and only needed 3:24 to get on the board, albeit for the only time in 80 minutes of play.
On what ended up being the third Liberty shot in that timeframe, sophomore Brookelyn Jadwin put back a deflected save by Park Hill senior goalkeeper Maggie Peterson. The ball found the back of the net to put the No. 5 seed up over the No. 4 seed.
It took over 20 minutes before the Lady Trojans finally got a shot up as senior Paige Barry had an attempt from the right hit the crossbar and go out-of-bounds. Following a free kick by Alyssa Estanich that sailed to the right about one minute later, Barry had the first Park Hill shot on goal with 11:30 left in the first half.
In the first half, Liberty had nine shots and Park Hill had three shots. The Lady Trojans were more aggressive in the second half with four free kicks, three corner kicks, five shots and two shots on goal.
Peterson was active early, getting her hands on the ball three times in the first five minutes out of the break. Park Hill had several chances from the 47th minute to the 51st minute, starting with a free kick by Estanich that ended up being a hand ball by a Liberty player.
Estanich set the ball towards the left baseline about 20 yards out for another free kick and Katelynn Young had a shot that missed to the right. Shortly after that, the Lady Trojans got back-to-back corner kick opportunities from opposing sides.
Senior Lydia Keller took a pass from the left side and made contact with her head and the Lady Blue Jay goalkeeper tipped it out-of-bounds to the right side, which resulted in another corner kick. Barry had a header that missed to the left on that one.
Down the stretch, sophomore Maryn Hudson had two crosses towards the goal from the left side to the right. The first time, no Lady Trojans were in position but the second time both Young and Barry were in the box, but the Liberty goalkeeper beat them to the ball.
Park Hill had some more chances late, such as a right corner kick in the 76th minute that sailed over the head of junior Emily Woelk, but the clock ran out. Layla Nelson, Barry, Young and Peterson officially played their last soccer game for Park Hill.
The Lady Trojans had a sense of life heading into the postseason as they beat Staley (6-13) 2-0 in the regular season finale to end a four-game losing skid on May 8. However, Park Hill ends the season under .500 for the third straight year.