by Brian Turrel
The Sumner Lady Sabres gave up early 1-0 and 2-1 leads to the Bonner Springs Lady Braves in their first-round playoff match, but a full-team effort brought Sumner back to an 8-2 lead at the final whistle.
Speedy Bonner forward Jenna Knight caused the Sumner defense problems early, and runs from Knight led to both Bonner goals. In the 9th minute, she took an open shot that ricocheted off the post, but the rebound fell to teammate Jaelyn Romo to put away for the early lead.
Sumner got the equalizer less than two minutes later, when the ball squirted out of a goalmouth scrum to Brenda Guevara-Alatorre who knocked it in from 15 yards out.
In the 22nd minute, Knight got onto the end of a pass from Mercedes Madlock and raced to fire it in to re-establish a one goal lead.
Sumner took less than a minute to come back to tie the score at 2-2, with Joselyn Clark racing unchecked up the middle. Bonner goalkeeper Alyssa King parried the shot, but the rebound fell back to Clark, who put it away.
Sumner made defensive adjustments to prevent Knight from getting open with running room, and the Lady Sabres started to pull away before halftime, scoring three unanswered goals. The most notable was Ashley Terrazas heading in a cross in the 35th minute.
Sumner added on three more goals in the second half, the last two off Terrazas free kicks. In the 66th minute, Terrazas picked out Clark, who knocked the ball in from the near post. In the 67th minute, Terrazas scored on a direct kick from 40 yards out, over the goalkeeper’s hands.
Clark scored three goals in the match. Terrazas and Guevara-Alatorre both notched two, and Gabriella Lopez scored one.
After the match, head coach Jon Borger talked about his team’s victory.
“We got some nice passing patterns, really played team ball,” the coach said. “We usually look to Joselyn Clark, our number 8, but we were able to put together some great team goals tonight. That’s what I was really proud of.”
The Lady Sabres advance to meet the Spring Hill Lady Broncos in the regional final on Thursday, starting at 6 p.m. The match will be played at Schlagle stadium. The winner of that game will advance to the 5A state tournament in Wichita on May 27 and 28.
The Bonner Springs Lady Braves finish their season with a 4-12 record. With 8 freshmen and 6 sophomores on the varsity roster, many of them playing significant minutes, the team is poised for a lot of growth in the next two years.
