By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
After a rough start to the season, the Shawnee Heights girls soccer team is on an upward trajectory with four wins in a row, the latest a 2-1 United Kansas Conference win Tuesday night at Seaman.
Senior Izzy Van Fleet (12) scored the game's first goal in Tuesday's 2-1 Shawnee Heights UKC soccer win at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Riding the wave of a three-game win streak, the T-Birds struck early, scoring just 34 seconds into the contest. Senior Izzy Van Fleet received a pass through traffic from sophomore Nina O’Neill-Bolanos in front of the Seaman goal and punched it home before the crowd could settle in.
But the Vikings struck back just as quickly. Junior Savannah Nelson scored off a pass from junior Ava Golightley at the 37:37 mark, wiping out the T-Birds’ early advantage.
Sophomore Nina O'Neill-Bolanos (2) scored the game-winning goal and also had an assist in Tuesday night's 2-1 Shawnee Heights soccer win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With 3:48 remaining in the first half, O’Neill-Bolanos launched a long strike off a free kick that sailed just over the outstretched arm of the Viking goalkeeper, putting the T-Birds up 2-1.
“We’ve seen that song and dance all season,” Shawnee Heights coach Nic Simons said. “We score early and then give up a couple of goals and start to have that self-doubt. But tonight, we were able to put that out of our heads and we took the lead, and we didn’t look back.”
The score would hold throughout the second half, thanks in large part to the work of goalkeeper Mackenzie Mertel.
“We didn’t get our heads down and we were able to battle against a very good Seaman team with some super dangerous players,” Simons said. “My hat’s off to them. This was just a great soccer match.”
Shawnee Heights celebrates a goal in Tuesday night's 2-1 UKC soccer win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The win lifted the T-Birds to 4-3-1 after an 0-3-1 start to the season.
“It feels amazing. I’m very proud of our team,” said Van Fleet. “We’ve worked really hard to be where we are right now in the middle of the season. We might have had a rocky start, but we did come back. And I think we’re going to do some amazing things for the rest of the season and postseason.”
Having helped the T-Birds reach the Class 5A State quarterfinals a year ago, Van Fleet knows what it takes to be among the state’s best. So, when the team got off to a rough start this season, she helped the T-Birds fight through it.
“We knew we’ve just got to keep believing in ourselves because if we keep pushing, we’ll be good,” Van Fleet said. “I think we could go far. I believe in us.”
“We have shown a lot of growth as a team,” Simons said. “Our girls have managed to kind of weather the highs and the lows at the same time. You can’t get too high and can’t get too low. You’ve got to kind of stay even, and I think we’ve managed to do that.
“We’ve been talking through every step of the way, taking it game by game, never looking ahead. We never looked at any one game as more important than another. We got that first win and then we just kept going from there. And I told the girls as we were prepping for Seaman, I said, ‘This is a way tonight to turn your season.’ ”
The T-Birds will play a makeup game against Leavenworth on Thursday, then face Washburn Rural – one of the top Class 6A programs in the state – next Monday.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 2, SEAMAN 1
Shawnee Heights (4-3-1) 2 0 — 2
Seaman (4-4-0) 1 0 — 1
Shawnee Heights — Goals: Van Fleet, O’Neill-Bolanos. Assist: O’Neill-Bolanos.
Seaman — Goal: Nelson. Assist: Golightley.
