Thursday, February 12, 2015

Post Season Thrillers, TAPPS Runner-Up

TAPPS 1-5A is one of the strongest districts in the state, not only for varsity, but for JV as well.  Nolan Catholic hosted the 5th Annual TAPPS JV Tournament Championships.

The teams put on a show in both semi-finals and the championship.

Ursuline and Bishop Lynch started the event off in the first semi-final where Ursuline stormed out to a 4-0 halftime lead.  Bishop Lynch did not back down and cut that lead in half in the first 15 minutes of the second half but Ursuline put the dagger in the Lady Friar comeback with their 5th goal of the day scored by Alyssa Sheldon.

Sophia Schmidt started the scoring for the Lady Bears; Sarah Stuecheli added 2 of her own and Catie Caudle found the back of the net as well.  The Bishop Lynch goal scorers were Christina Stack and Anisa Lopez.

The real drama began in the second semi-final between #2 seed Nolan Catholic and #3 seed and defending tournament champions, John Paul II.

Nolan Catholic took a 1-0 lead just 3 minutes into the match on a goal by Emma Hernandez off the foot of Mikaela Gamboa.  The match was under control by the Lady Vikings until, Lady Cardinal, Margaret Synder evened the score with 9 to play in the first half.

The Lady Vikings answered back just before the end of the half to regain the lead on a goal by Abbey Button.  The wind was picking up and the Lady Vikings had the advantage until a PK was awarded to John Paul II and Synder even the score again.

The match remained deadlocked at 2 despot the numerous chances by the Vikings, so overtime here we come.  It is do or die moment for the Lady Vikings and they were determined to get finish this off.  They did not want a repeat of last year as they were knocked off by #4 seed Bishop Lynch in last years semi-final.

Golden goal underway, you score you win.

LVS head coach, Alex Mechalske said, "We responded well in the moment."

And that was exactly the case, with the wind and the clock ticking down in the first overtime period.

With 17 seconds to go the Lady Vikings win possession off a John Paul goal kick and the ball ended up on the foot of Lady Viking midfielder, Selena Guzman and with the clock continuing to tick down, she unleashed a laser to the bottom left corner and today, the post was her friend and the ball rebounded in the goal for a dramatic 3-2 golden goal OT victory for the Lady Vikings sending them to the championship game later on that evening.

Ursuline was the designated home team in the red tops and Nolan Catholic was the designated visitor in their blue tops but at Doskocil Stadium, home of the Lady Vikings.  The match was a tail of 2 halves.  Ursuline dominating the first half and taking a 1-0 lead and then the Lady Vikings dominating the second half and evening the score with 14 to play.  Guzman, again, part of the the scoring when she sent a pass to Gamboa to take the match to overtime.

Lady Vikings goalkeeper, Sarah Becan kept her team in the game early when she saved a penalty shot in regulation.

A valiant effort by the Lady Vikings and total belief that they were going to win their 3rd TAPPS JV Championship but the Lady Bears ended the game just 7 minutes into the overtime period to claim the title, their 2nd overall.

Mechalske added, "This year has been just that, Awesome!  Our JV girls are 2015 TAPPS runner-up and we are extremely proud of their season."

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