All teams set their goals atthe beginning of the season, but only four get to realize them and only one gets
to celebrate last of all. The goal of
the Kennedale LadyKats from the very beginning was state and nothing less. {{more}}
Coach Strange makes good on promise)
On their list, they have checked off districtchamps, area champs and now region champs with their double overtime
victory on Saturday. Now, with their coach?s hair
dyed a bright pink on a promise of a win, the Kennedale LadyKats are ready for
the last check off.
If you had listened to Kennedale Head Coach Michael Strange at the end of last year or any time this year, you knew that this was the team that was going to state. Others agreed because the LadyKats started out the beginning of the season rated the #1 team in Class 4A.Kennedale fell out of first place during the season only to be replaced by the high flying Melissa team who would go through the season undefeated until meeting Kennedale in the region finals and losing 4-3 in double overtime.
In the game played Saturday at Wildcat Stadium, Kennedale started out strong, keeping possession and forcing Melissa into defensive positions throughout most of the 1st half. The LadyKats scored twice in the first 10 minutes for a 2-0 lead with a high kick by Allie Thornton at the 7 minute mark and then 3 minutes later a 30-yarder by Abigail Olmos.
Melissa did get a score on a kick by Amanda Kocsis 3 minutes later to make the score 2-1. Thornton responded for her second goal a few minutes later to put the Kats back up by 2 at 3-1. Elise Hawn from Melissa scored on a free kick in the 24th minute to cut the lead to 3-2.
Abby Olmos, Alondra Olmos and Allie Thornton celebrate Alondra?s winning goal (Action Shots by Staci
Otts)
This score would hold for Kennedale through the half and up to 7 minutes left in the game when Kocis scored her second goal and knotted the score at 3, sending the game into overtime.
Ten minutes later the score was still 3-3 and a second overtime started as the sun was breaking through the clouds. On an assist by Allie Thornton, Alondra Olmos scored what would be the winning goal with just over a minute left in overtime.
In the win, Kennedale was able to stop the scoring of Emily Bates of Melissa who has scored 88 goals this season making her a national scoring leader.
(Action Shots by Staci Otts
)
Now #3 Kennedale (22-2-2) after defeating the #1 team joins #2 Jasper (26-0) and the last undefeated team in Class 4A, #11 Princeton (20-3-2) and #5 Boerne (23-3) in the final four at the state soccer tournament in Georgetown this coming week.The 4A semifinals will be held on Wednesday April 15 with Kennedale facing Boerne at 11 a.m. and Jasper playing Princeton at 1:30 p.m. The championship game will be played on Thursday April 16. (Kennedale has not played Boerne or Jasper but did play Princeton in a playoff warm-up game, winning 2-0).
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