Coach Brandon Palmer thought his Blair girls soccer team looked fatigued Tuesday afternoon during the Class B Subdistrict 3 semifinals at Omaha Duchesne.
“High school soccer is tough,” he said. “The season is tough. It's condensed. And it just looked like, from a mental and physical standpoint, we were just spent.”
The Bears used what energy they had left to build a 1-0 first-half lead, but, after that, the top-seeded Cardinals (13-3 overall) scored three straight and earned a 3-1 victory. BHS dropped to 7-8 in defeat, waiting and watching to see if and when it would play its next game this spring — a Saturday district final. The matchup — a 9 a.m. start at Bennington — was made official Thursday.
Blair led Tuesday's match 1-0 after 40 minutes at Duchesne with goalkeeper Kaitlyn Johnson thwarting a Cardinals corner kick at the end of the first half. The home team earned more first-half possession and had multiple scoring opportunities, but the Bears had the advantage on the scoreboard.
Junior Sally Kies notched her fifth goal of the subdistrict tournament during the 10th minute, booting the ball to the left of the Duchesne keeper and into the net. Senior Sami Murray assisted with an on-the-mark pass after Allison Hernandez started a run down the field with the ball at her feet.
“The first 15 minutes, the first 20 minutes, we came out with a lot of energy,” Palmer said. “Even though our body language was really bad during warmups, I think we came out energized and it showed.”
The 1-0 lead may have had a negative effect, however.
“I think one of the easiest parts about scoring early is you can tend to take your foot off the gas,” the coach added. “You can take this big deep breath and sigh of relief, and I think that's what happened.”
After the intermission, the Cardinals scored three goals in just 18 minutes. Tatum Vaughan broke the seal, heading in a corner kick past Johnson to even the score during the 45th.
From there, Duchesne scored in the 54th and 58th minutes as the Bears couldn't quite put together shots on goal to battle back into the match.
As a result, Blair had to wait through the end of Class B subdistrict tourneys across the state to determine its district finals plans. Palmer believes matchups will determine whether his team has a chance to qualify for its first state tournament since 2001.
“The next, probably, 48 hours — 24 hours — dictates what that's going to look like,” he said.
Desire, the coach noted, will be a determining factor against whoever the Bears face if they are presented the opportunity to participate in one more match this spring.
