Girls soccer defeats BVH, becoming regional champions
The girls varsity soccer team defeated Blue Valley High, defending their title as the 6A regional champions and advancing themselves on their conquest for the state championship.
May 24, 2014
The girls varsity soccer team defeated Blue Valley High in the 6A regional championship game, with a final score of 1-0. The game took place Thursday night at the DAC, and this win advances BVNW to the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
The final score of the game was determined three minutes into the first half, when senior Kara Priest’s scored a goal that gave BVNW a one point lead it kept for the rest of the game. Priest said one reason why the team won was because of its perseverance to maintain this early lead.
“Our defense shut them down pretty well,” Priest said. “I think we had really good endurance and stayed focused the whole time, because it’s not easy keeping [the other team] from scoring the whole game when you’re only up by one.”
The girls varsity soccer team is the defending 6A state champion, and will be entering Tuesday’s quarterfinal final game as the number one seed. Despite this, Priest said one important thing the team needs to work on is keeping the ball more, and that the road to another state championship will not be easy.
“It’s not going to be easy for us to get all the way there,” Priest said. “But, I think that we’re peaking at the right time.”
Head coach Rick Pribyl agreed, and said that the team intends on taking the upcoming challenges one game at a time.
“[Repeating a state championship] is pretty hard to do,” Pribyl said. “When we started the playoffs we had to win five, [and] now we have to win three [more]. It’s one game at a time.”
Pribyl said one large factor that has played into the success of the team this season is the relationship the players have with each other.
“They play together as a team very well, and that’s what [soccer] is- a team sport,” Pribyl said. ” They play on the field like they are on the sidelines, and they’re all friends, and that’s really good.”
Priest said compared to the beginning of the season, the team’s chemistry has gone up which has helped contribute to the team’s wins.
“We definitely know how each other plays [now], and that’s helped us out a ton,” Priest said. “I also just think that we’re doing really well at keeping it positive and lifting each other up versus putting each other down. [We’re] doing well, so I think things are definitely looking good for us.”
The quarterfinal game will take place on Tuesday, May 27 at 6:00 p.m. in the DAC. If the girls varsity soccer team wins this game, they will advance to the semifinals and then play for third place or the state championship on May 30 and May 31 in the Topeka USD 501 Hummer Sports Complex.
