After upset victories over Olathe Northwest and Olathe East in regionals, the Huskies advanced to state and were set to take on Shawnee Mission East in the state quarterfinals. The Lancers finished the regular season 12-4, making them the two seed going into the postseason. Looking for a third straight upset victory, the Huskies came out of the gates hard, but were met with a strong attack by the Lancers, who scored their first goal seven minutes into the game. Head coach Michelle Pothoven said the team knew the Lancers were going to be tough competition and were prepared for a back and forth game.

“We knew they were going to come at us hard. We knew this was going to be a back and forth game and we wanted to respond and we did. We responded well and never stopped fighting,” Pothoven said.

Just as it seemed like the Huskies were gaining momentum back after the early goal by the Lancers, the game was put under a lightning delay with 21:17 remaining in the first half. Senior Abby Hoffman said the Huskies were playing with a lot of energy and intensity after the Lancers’ goal, but the lightning delay stopped their momentum.

“After they scored it motivated us to work harder to come back. A lot of the time when we get scored on early on that’s what kickstarts our momentum,” Hoffman said. “Before the lightning delay we had a lot of energy, but the lightning delay kind of cut us off in that regard.”

Pothoven said the team tried to stay relaxed during the delay, but felt like it was tough to bring the same momentum they had before.

“We actually had a little bit of fun during the delay. We played some games and tried to enjoy the moment and keep moving forward. We talked some soccer, but we just wanted to focus on the momentum we had created. I do think [the delay] made it tough, but I felt like we did our best to match the intensity we had before,” Pothoven said.

Coming out of the delay, the game was back and forth until the Lancers scored a goal after a deflection off the post on a penalty kick with 1:43 remaining in the half to extend their lead, 2-0. Junior Megan Yates said the team was frustrated because they didn’t believe the Lancers should have been awarded a penalty kick.

“It was disappointing because we didn’t think they deserved that penalty kick and we didn’t think they deserved most of the goals they got, but we just wanted to keep our heads up and keep on going,” Yates said.

In the second half the score remained deadlocked at 2-0. Despite the Huskies best efforts to find the back of the net, they did not manage to score a goal. A goal for the Lancers with 2:37 closed out the game as their lead was extended, 3-0. 

Playing in her last high school soccer game, Hoffman said it was a disappointing way for the season to end, but was satisfied with how far the team had come.

“It’s never a great feeling to end on a loss and it’s not the outcome we wanted, but we made it a lot farther this season than we had in the past. I feel like us seniors have left a legacy that they can build off next season,” Hoffman said.

Yates said it was a tough way to end the season, but she was proud of all her teammates and appreciated everything the seniors did this season.

“It was really disappointing because that wasn’t how we wanted the season to end. I’m really proud of all of our seniors and I’m really grateful for all of their hard work. They’ve done so much for this program and they will be missed greatly,” Yates said.

Agreeing with Yates, Pothoven said she will miss the seniors and was proud of everything they did for the program this year.

“You never want to watch the final whistle blow and you never want it to be over. This group of seniors set goals to go out this year and have fun and we did it and they led us well and we’re going to miss all eight of them,” Pothoven said.