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Katelyn and Nathalia Barr walked off the Grain Valley High School soccer field Tuesday night with tears in their eyes and a newfound determination in their souls.
“We came into this game thinking, ‘This is Oak Grove, and we’re Grain Valley and all we have to do is show up to win,’” senior Katelyn Barr said after Oak Grove’s Moriah Ruth scored the game-tying goal with 1:30 left in regulation and four Panthers scored in a shootout to give the visitors their first win ever on the Eagles home field, a 3-2 triumph that produced enough thrilling moments to fill an entire season.
“This is a learning experience for our team. We will never come into a game with the same attitude again,” Katelyn said. “It’s like my accounting teacher told me today – there is a difference between arrogance and confidence. We were arrogant coming into this game, and look what happened.”
Freshman Nathalia Barr gave the Eagles a quick 1-0 lead in the game, as she scored six minutes into the first period.
“This is a loss we have to learn from,” Nathalia said. “This loss will make us work harder and never be overconfident again against any opponent, especially Oak Grove. They’re our big rival, and we have to play against them like we would any other team.”
The win was the second shootout the Panthers have participated in within the past four days as they lost 1-0 in the Clinton Tournament on Saturday.
“We did a little better today,” Oak Grove coach Ben Thomason said after his team improved to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in conference action. “We didn’t score in the shootout Saturday, and we got our first four today – and that was enough to get us the win.”
Kristina Larson, Kate Felden, Savannah Ashley and Haley Hayes all scored in the shootout with Hayes’ goal putting an end to more than 100 minutes of soccer action.
“It was the biggest goal of (my) career at Oak Grove. Although I hope some bigger ones happen later in the season,” said Hayes, who scored the Panthers’ first goal of the night in the 36th minute.
Panther goalkeeper Sam Crawford was huge in the net, facing 31 shots in regulation and coming away with 26 saves.
She stopped two of the four Grain Valley penalty shot attempts, including Ashley Bundren’s opening kick.
“Stopping the first kick is huge,” Crawford said. “I watch the player’s eyes and where they place the ball and that gives me a good idea where they are going to shoot from.
Katelyn and Nathalia Barr walked off the Grain Valley High School soccer field Tuesday night with tears in their eyes and a newfound determination in their souls.
“We came into this game thinking, ‘This is Oak Grove, and we’re Grain Valley and all we have to do is show up to win,’” senior Katelyn Barr said after Oak Grove’s Moriah Ruth scored the game-tying goal with 1:30 left in regulation and four Panthers scored in a shootout to give the visitors their first win ever on the Eagles home field, a 3-2 triumph that produced enough thrilling moments to fill an entire season.
“This is a learning experience for our team. We will never come into a game with the same attitude again,” Katelyn said. “It’s like my accounting teacher told me today – there is a difference between arrogance and confidence. We were arrogant coming into this game, and look what happened.”
Freshman Nathalia Barr gave the Eagles a quick 1-0 lead in the game, as she scored six minutes into the first period.
“This is a loss we have to learn from,” Nathalia said. “This loss will make us work harder and never be overconfident again against any opponent, especially Oak Grove. They’re our big rival, and we have to play against them like we would any other team.”
The win was the second shootout the Panthers have participated in within the past four days as they lost 1-0 in the Clinton Tournament on Saturday.
“We did a little better today,” Oak Grove coach Ben Thomason said after his team improved to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in conference action. “We didn’t score in the shootout Saturday, and we got our first four today – and that was enough to get us the win.”
Kristina Larson, Kate Felden, Savannah Ashley and Haley Hayes all scored in the shootout with Hayes’ goal putting an end to more than 100 minutes of soccer action.
“It was the biggest goal of (my) career at Oak Grove. Although I hope some bigger ones happen later in the season,” said Hayes, who scored the Panthers’ first goal of the night in the 36th minute.
Panther goalkeeper Sam Crawford was huge in the net, facing 31 shots in regulation and coming away with 26 saves.
She stopped two of the four Grain Valley penalty shot attempts, including Ashley Bundren’s opening kick.
“Stopping the first kick is huge,” Crawford said. “I watch the player’s eyes and where they place the ball and that gives me a good idea where they are going to shoot from.
Kali Carson and Eden Lindenbusch scored for the Eagles in the shootout.
Devan Fairfield scored in the 64th minute to give Grain Valley a short-lived 2-1 lead.
“We had some lack of communication tonight on defense, and that hurt us,” Eagles coach Aleana Balistreri said after the Eagles fell to 7-3 and 2-2.
“Sam (Crawford) was definitely the MVP of this game. She was so good for Oak Grove. We had a lot of shots in the game and could just score two goals (in regulation), and then she stopped two of our first three shots in the shootout and that really gave them the edge.
“You hate to lose one like this, but it was great game. The kids will be talking about this one for a long time.”
