Stopped cold

After two scoreless overtimes and with her high school career coming down to penalty kicks, Jordan Joyce made a decision.
She wanted to get involved.
The Blue Springs senior defender hit the game-winning penalty kick, as the Wildcats beat rival Blue Springs South 2-1 Tuesday, by winning the penalty-kick shootout 4-3 in a Class 2 District 15 semifinal at South’s Larry Stewart Memorial Stadium.
Blue Springs advanced to Thursday’s district title game against St. Teresa’s, scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
South made three penalty kicks in five attempts, while the Wildcats had three in four. Joyce was the last player to kick – knowing if she hit her shot, the Wildcats would win. A miss would have continued the penalty kicks until one team made one when the other team missed.
“That is the most pressure I’ve ever been under,” Joyce said. “Our season could have ended if it didn’t go in, and I didn’t want to let the team down. I didn’t want the season to end that way. I wanted to hit that shot and beat South.”
Wildcats coach Doug McLagan said Joyce’s enthusiasm was the reason why the defender was chosen to take the final penalty kick.
“She was the first one who said, ‘I’m taking one,’ ” he said. “She was confident enough. When someone says that, that’s the confidence you need.”
Joyce’s kick was nearly for a tie rather than a game-winner. South goalkeeper Kirstie Warren got a hand on Tara Beck’s penalty kick in the shot before Joyce. However, enough was on the kick to send the ball to the post, where it ricocheted in.
“I dove backward, which was my mistake,” Warren said. “I heard it hit the post, and it hit it right and just went in.”
In addition to Beck and Joyce, Laura Creason and Chelsea Tilbury made their penalty kicks.
Sharaya Sidebottom, Peri Irwin and Brynn Abram scored for South in the shootout.
It was fitting the game came down to penalty kicks with the way the two defenses played.
Sidebottom hit a penalty kick in the ninth minute to put South up 1-0. Blue Springs tied it in the 17th minute when Amanda Schwartz’s corner kick curved into the goal.
Outside of that, there was no other scoring.
“We played 110 minutes of soccer, and the only goals were a penalty kick and a fluke corner,” South coach Todd Findley said. “The defenses and keepers for both teams were phenomenal.”
Warren made 14 saves – five in the second overtime. Blue Springs goalie Danielle Bennefeld made 12 saves, not counting the two shots she stopped during penalty kicks.
Bennefeld, a senior who has missed most of the season with an injury, only recently regained her starting spot. She said Monday’s win meant a lot to her.
“My one senior wish was that I could come back when we played South,” she said. “I had to miss the first two games. It was even better because it was districts.”
Both teams struggled to find many solid chances.
McLagan said his team’s struggles were specifically based on how well South played after losing to the Wildcats twice this season.
“I think they came out and played well,” McLagan said. “They were the first to the ball. This was not our best effort, but a lot of that is because of how they played.”
While South did not get the win, it was a historic night for the Jaguars. Sidebottom’s goal in the ninth minute gave her the school record, breaking Logan Thorp’s mark that was set the year before.
“I was happy to get that goal,” Sidebottom said. “I’ve been going for it and really wanted it, so I’m happy I got it. I am so proud of our girls and how we played. Everyone left it on the field, and that’s all I asked of them.
“It just sucked because someone’s got to go home.”
Blue Springs now prepares for a rematch with St. Teresa’s, which beat the Wildcats 3-2 earlier in the year. However, the Wildcats scored twice in the final five minutes to put a scare into the Stars.
“I’m so excited,” Joyce said. “That last five minutes, we showed we could play with them when we do what we can do. We want to go out there, be intense and put pressure on them.”