I didn’t really post a lot of information about the District Championship the other night. SK won but it was in ho-hum fashion and frankly, they really didn’t look very good. It was only the team’s third district title in the history of the program but the way the girls reacted, you would have thought that they have a trophy case full of the walnut trophies shaped like the Commonwealth. For practice yesterday, Coach Dusty Jones took the girls on a little tour of the trophy cases to remind them that tournament wins don’t come easy. Whatever he said must have worked because tonight’s team didn’t resemble anything like the team that played Saturday evening. For a big part of the game, SK looked hungry and Ryle looked flat.
Both teams came out and exchanged possessions. The first five minutes of the game was kind of back and forth. It looked like SK was having a little challenge adapting to the thick natural grass field at St. Henry. At first, their passes were coming up short. After a few minutes SK kicked into high gear and took off. They actually dominated the first half. The Pioneers got on the board for the only goal of the first half. The goal was strange; almost in slow motion. Junior Jillian Russell carried the ball forward, made a couple of moves and suddenly was in the penalty area. She was under a lot of pressure and the SK coaches were yelling for her to pass the ball. All of a sudden, the Ryle players kind of froze and almost watched her. She took a shot that was just out of reach of the keeper that rolled across the goal line. SK’s intensity let up a little towards the end of the first half but Stacy Lankheit made an awesome save on a dive to her right side. Lankheit would only touch the ball one other time for the half.
Coach Jones spent the biggest part of half-time reminding his team that they did dominate play instead of talking about strategy and tactics. I am not sure what happened but the Ryle coaches spent a big part of the half conversing with the officials.
The momentum that Ryle took into the end of the first half carried over to the start of the second half. The game definitely had a different complexion. The Raiders came out with a much higher level of energy as the Raiders had many more opportunities to score. About 10 minutes into the half, they were awarded a PK. Lankheit guessed the correct way for her dive but the shot went into the side of the net for the 1-1 tie. The Pioneers didn’t fold. They suddenly remembered that they were playing a better game and picked it up a notch. After Ryle had an offensive attack, the ball was cleared to Jillian Russell. She carried the ball down to about the 18 yard box and gave the ball up to her sister Krista, who took a shot which sent the Pioneers ahead for good. This goal was at about the half way point of the second half. Lankheit made another awesome save on a shot at a crucial point of the game. Ryle came at her a little too hard and one of their players was sent off. The Pioneers got an insurance goal with about 10 minutes to go in the game when Krista Russell made a beautiful cross from the left side. The ball found central midfielder Caitlyn Figgins crashing in from the right side who tagged the ball off of her leg for the breathing room. The Pioneers managed the clock for the remainder of the game and came off the field with a very well deserved and hard fought victory.
SK will now play St. Henry in the Regional Final on Thursday at 7:00. If the Pioneers can bring the same game on Thursday that they had tonight, they will have a great chance to win the region. Congratulations girls, it was a lot of fun watching you play tonight.
Pictures were a little challenging tonight. The sun and shade on the field was brutal and the other problem was I spent more time watching as a dad than I did shooting pictures.
Jill leaves a Ryle player behind as the AR signals play-on.
First half shot by Kr.Russell
Able tries to find the net.
An emotional Coach Dusty took on a cheerleading role tonight. Here he celebrated the go ahead goal.
A pretty key match-up between 15 and 23 throughout the evening. Without being too biased, I'll just say, Way to go Cait.
I am not sure who was more excited, Jill or Cait.
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