by Alan Hoskins,KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s young women’s soccer team stamped its first trip to the Region V playoffs with authority Sunday afternoon.
Scoring three goals in the first nine minutes, the Lady Blue Devils’ 6-1 win over Coffeyville not only wrapped up a first time playoff berth but it will be a played at home – this coming Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Barton County (8-7), the defending Region VI champion.
And it could get even better. If third place Butler County should win at league-leading Cowley County in a makeup game Tuesday night, the Blue Devils will finish in a tie for the Jayhawk Conference championship – a program-changing accomplishment considering no Blue Devil women’s team has ever had a winning record let alone sniff a playoff berth in its first seven years.
“We’ve lost a lot of games so this is special, very special,” said fourth year KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake, whose No, 1 goal when he took the coaching reins was to earn a playoff berth. “That’s the goal every year. Getting a big lead today really helped take the pressure off. This team has really stayed disciplined and focused and just got better and better.”
Uhlenhake was particularly pleased with a near shutout of Coffeyville, a team that had defeated the Blue Devils 5-3 earlier. The Red Ravens did not score until the final 1:43. Finishing 12-3 overall and 9-3 in the Jayhawk, the win over Coffeyville enabled KCKCC to avenge each of its three losses. .
The Blue Devils got a record-setting performance by freshman forward Melissa Siegel, who had assists on all six KCKCC records.
“Has to be a record,” Uhlenhake said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Sophomore Kayla Deaver and freshman Maddy Broeker each had a pair of goals; freshmen Corrine Hughes and Jaidyn Yingling one apiece.
Hughes started with a breakaway goal just three minutes into the game and Broeker made it 3-0, scoring twice on crossing patterns in a span of less than two minutes. The second came just eight minutes and 50 seconds into the game.
Deaver’s first goal came at the 26:00 mark, a breakaway blast that left Coffeyville goalkeeper Taylor Lamp grasping for nothing but air. Yingling made it 5-0 at the half. Beating Lamp with goal from outside the box with 6:02 remaining and Deaver got her second goal at 30:17 of the second half, a shot just inside the right goal post.
KCKCC got a standout defensive effort from freshman goalkeeper Jaidyn Takaishi, who had a season high 12 saves as the Red Ravens launched 19 shots. Meanwhile, KCKCC’s six goals came on 15 shots against two goalkeepers.
The big lead enabled Uhlenhake to go to his bench early. For eight sophomores, it was their final regular season game at home – Sydney Guerra, Alex Schemmel, Karleigh Enyart, Kayla Deaver, Tina Alvarez, Arlene Ruiz, Ruth Nunez and Jasmine Diaz. However, with a home playoff Sunday, it was not their last.
