by Kyle Howard, photos by Kurt Howard

Kennedy Catholic and Highline girls’ soccer teams took the field on a very cold Tuesday night at Highline stadium. It was a chilling 46 degrees at game time.

Please click the image above for more.

This would be the third and final matchup between the two teams, Kennedy Catholic had beaten highline twice before, the last game resulted in a 3-0 shutout for the Lancers.

Kennedy Catholic kept the tempo up being offensively aggressive the whole game, keeping the ball on Highline’s defensive side of the field.

After a foul from Highline, Kennedy Catholic was awarded an indirect free kick, and from 35 yards out senior captain Kirsten Olsen scored the game’s first goal 19 minutes into the game.

Just seven minutes later Olsen scored her second impressive goal, this time at 30 yards out, making the score 2-0.

The Pirates picked up their game and were able to get a few shots on goal near the end of the first half. Highline received a free kick and Junior Breezy Brookbank took the shot from 20 yards out, hitting the cross bar just missing the goal.

Highline continued to keep the pressure up and with 12:15 left in the half Coleen Pacholski scored for the Pirates on a breakaway shot from 20 yards out, cutting the Lancers lead to 2-1.

In the first half the Pirates defense and Goal Keeper were kept very busy as the Lancers had outshot them 10-3. Kennedy’s offense was very aggressive and kept the ball in Highline territory. All three of Highline's shots took place in the last 12 minutes.

Kennedy didn’t waste much time in the second half when Jamie Hoffman scored on a cross field pass at the 28:50 mark, pushing their lead to 3-1.

Just six minutes later the Lancers scored again, after a shot on goal was blocked by the goal keeper, Lancer captain Maria Diel got the rebound and kicked it in for the score.

Highline continued to battle as their defense worked hard trying to prevent any more scoring. Highline’s defenders made some great stops and prevented some near goals but the Lancers got themselves one last goal when Caitlyn Mathews scored with 41 seconds left in the game, ending in a Kennedy Catholic win over the Highline Pirates 5-1.

Despite the score, Highline played a very good game; their defense played strong and did not give up, making the Lancers work for their goals.

Pirate coach Jeb Binns said after the game “the score doesn’t depict how well we played."

On the Lancer side head coach Doug Stamnes added “other than the one goal we allowed we played very well, we wanted to establish ourselves early and we put two in the net.”

At halftime Stamnes told them they needed to work on finishing their opportunities, which the Lancers were able to do in the second half.

“We created a lot of opportunities in the second half, we wanted to score three goals for the game, and we got five.”

When asked if they felt ready for the playoffs, coach Stamnes responded “we're getting there, well keep working at it."