by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
The best women’s soccer season in Kansas City Kansas Community College history has come to an end.
Avenging two regular season losses, Johnson County eliminated the Lady Blue Devils from the Region VI playoffs with a 2-0 win Friday. The loss was just the fourth in 17 games for the Blue Devils (13-4), the first winning season in the 8-year history of the sport at KCKCC.
A 2-1 upset winner over No. 1 seeded Cloud County in the opening round of playoffs, the win was the fifth in a row for the No. 8 seeded Cavaliers (13-6-1) and sends them into the Plains District semifinals in Wichita Wednesday.
“It’s disappointing but an unbelievable season,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. “We knew Johnson had a good team and it’s tough to beat a good team three times. We had a hard time matching their intensity. We had trouble connecting with our forwards and that was unusual because of all the goals we scored this season.”
The Cavaliers jumped in front when Audrey Peterson lofted in a goal from outside the box at the 15:11 mark of the first half and then clinched the win when Morgan Carranza converted a penalty kick with 16:59 remaining in the game.
The shutout was the sixth of the season for Cavaliers, who have given up only 20 goals in 20 games this season. The Blue Devils launched 12 kicks and 10 corner kicks on JCCC goalkeeper Oliva Ways, who had seven saves in recording the shutout.
Jaidyn Takaishi had nine saves in goal for the Blue Devils as the Cavaliers had a 19-12 advantage in shots.
