Tuesday was a stark difference from Saturday in terms of weather when the Pierre Governor Girls beat the Brookings Bobcats in penalty kicks to advance to the semi-finals. 92, sunny and steady on Saturday compared to 54, cold and windy on Tuesday was more what we expect in Pierre around mid-October. However, the game itself offered a sense of deja vu for the Governors who had to white knuckle a win down to the wire.
If the Governors learned anything about scoreless draws going the full 100 minutes (80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of extra time) and into penalty kicks, they were able to use that newfound knowledge against the O’Gorman Lady Knights. Different day, different opponent, same outcome.
The Lady Knights and the Governor Girls played a tightly contested first half that lived in the middle third of the pitch with both teams trying not to offer a mistake. Much like Saturday, no one found a finish in the first 40 minutes. In the second half of Tuesday’s game, the Lady Knights threw opportunity after opportunity at veteran goalkeeper Emlyn Swanson who continued her scoreless streak in the playoffs. It was, again, almost a mirror-image of the quarterfinals, even down to a near goal for the Governors opponent ringing off the crossbar and staying out of the net. It happened to Rapid City Central’s Davina Lafomo on Saturday and it happened again Tuesday to Lady Knight’s Jai Kelly. Same crossbar, same result, no-goal and the game remaining scoreless.
Neither team was able to score nor find a rhythm in either 10-minute extra time period, so the similarities continued in the most dramatic ways possible, penalty kicks.
Pierre won the coin toss and elected to kick second in the sequence, setting the stage kicks to decide who would be playing in the State Championship and who would have their season come to a crushing end.
O’Gorman’s Lyndy Bortnem would strike first and would sling one by the fingertips of Swanson putting the Knights at the advantage. On Pierre’s first kick, Cameron Larson was denied by Brinley Groos, however, Groos’ feet came off the line before the kick giving Larson another chance which she too would finish strong to even up the score 1-1.
Hannah Heineman would take the second attempt for O’Gorman and ring the crossbar above Swanson again as it would ricochet away from a scoring chance. Josephine Wurtz entered the box with a chance to put Pierre ahead, but was denied by Groos.
Still square, the powerful Loretta Hillman would fire a missile by Swanson to edge O’Gorman out by a point, and Ivy Flottmeyer would become the next Groos victim as the Knight goalkeeper blocked another. With their backs against the wall, Myah Fravel would go low and shooters left to the open corner, and score a crucial kick for her team. It was found to be the tying kick after the following attempt sailed high over the bar by Meygan Mausbach. A miss that could only be attributed to pressure. With the fifth kick for Pierre, there was no one else better for the moment than Lexie Hillmer who placed one by a diving Groos to keep the Governors in the drivers seat.
In an interesting turn of events, Groos (the goalkeeper) went out to face her counterpart Swanson with the season on the line. The shot glanced off the hands of Swanson, carom up and off the bottom of the bar, and bounce off the back of Swanson and into the net. A wild stroke of precision and a little bit of luck kept O’Gorman in it.
It left the potential final swing of the leg to newly named ESD All-Conference team member, and team captain, Katelyn Taylor. Primed for the moment, Taylor sent a charge into the back of the net while simultaneously directing one into the huge home crowd as the realization set in that Pierre had just punched their ticket to the State Championship.
The Governors made it a mission setting out this season to win the final game of the year, and now they await the winner of Yankton and Harrisburg to decide who will be on the other side of the line. We will see you in Watertown on Saturday!
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