Fresh off of her first save of the penalty kick shootout, Blair goalkeeper Brooklyn Schroeter leapt in an attempt to stop a second Omaha Skutt shot May 14 at Morrison Stadium.
The Skyhawk attempt, however, was too high for a save, but also too high for a goal. It careened up into the air off of the crossbar and — after she got up from the Creighton Bluejays' turf — Schroeter looked to see a wall of teammates racing her way from midfield to celebrate the first BHS state soccer win since 2001.
“That's going to be a memory for the rest of my life,” the sophomore said. “That was unforgettable.”
The Bears' 1-1 NSAA Class B State Championships run was a memorable experience altogether. BHS beat Skutt in a 5-4 overtime shootout, 1-0, but lost its state semifinals match with Gretna East, 5-1.
“Incredibly memorable, but I think it's just the start of something special,” Hall said. “We've got a lot of good soccer ahead of us.”
It was the unbeaten Griffins' time to contend for a second-straight Class B title this year, though. Their third win against the 16-3 Bears allowed them to do just that Monday.
“They just play together so well,” Coach Hall said, explaining what makes East special. “Their size and speed, obviously.”
He continued.
“It looks like 12 seniors out there on the same pitch,” the coach explained.
The Griffins built a 2-0 lead through 22 minutes against Blair on Saturday with Oklahoma State recruit Sonora Defini scoring her squad's second.
Even so, Blair had an answer just before halftime. During the 38th minute, freshman Cadence Field passed the ball from the goal line to the middle of the box where sophomore Laynie Brown stood. The Bear was open and made the shot into the back of the net, cutting her team's deficit to a single goal going into halftime.
“It provided a spark,” Hall said.
But not one BHS could keep lit.
“I felt like we just ran out of gas in the second half,” he said, noting how an injury to Schroeter — the goaltending hero from the opening round — hurt the Bears' chances of a comeback even further.
Defini added two more goals, and Kendall Dobberstein one, as Gretna East advanced onto the championship game.
The high school careers of Blair seniors Brynn Ray, Blythe Knight, Maddie Kempcke, Izzy Hartvigsen and Addie Sullivan, however, ended.
“They're just great kids, great soccer players,” Hall said. “After we had a tough year their sophomore year, they could of done something else, but they stuck with it knowing that something special was coming.”
It worked out in the recent graduates' favor.
“Credit to them, and here we are,” Hall said, turning to the field at Morrison Stadium. The overall experience is one he said he'll reminisce about with his daughter, sophomore Emmi Hall, for years to come.
It was truly exceptional to earn Blair's first state trip in 24 years and its first to the CU Bluejays' home.
“It was such an amazing experience and I wouldn't want to do it with any other team,” Field said after the Bears' first-round win. “They make it so much more fun.”
Bears beat Skutt by PKs
Coach Hall looked on from the side May 14 as his goalkeeper did a television interview and the rest of the Bears embraced friends and family.
“To get here after so many years and then have a game like that against Skutt, a powerhouse …,” he said, searching for the words. “It was fun.”
Fun just wasn't enough, though. After their school went more than two decades without a state appearance, the Bears wanted to win.
“It's just so special to be here and we all know that, and we didn't want to waste our opportunity,” Brown explained.
Blair and Omaha Skutt played 100 minutes of scoreless soccer during the first round of the Class B state tournament, but it was the Bears who came through in crunch time during the shootout.
“I feel like we just all believe in each other,” Field said. “That really helps.”
To earn a 1-0 win through six rounds of overtime penalty kicks, Coach Hall's team needed to both make shots and stop them.
Ray, the senior, stepped up first and beat Skutt keeper Grace Scheer, an Arlington native who'd kept BHS out of the net through regulation and 20 minutes of OT.
“As soon as I was done, oh my gosh, I thought I was going to throw up,” Ray said. “Pass out — something like that.”
Even so, she had faith as Kaylie Johnson, Beau Wendt and Field made their 1-on-1 shots, too.
“I knew we had it,” Ray said. “We've been practicing PKs ever since day No. 1 of practice.”
Schroeter was put in a difficult situation in goal, however, when Scheer saved the Bears' fourth-round shot during the shootout. In round five, she needed to get her mitts on a Skyhawk attempt to keep her team in the tournament.
“I tried to shut everything out and tried to focus,” the BHS keeper said. “But I must say, I was getting a little nervous there.”
Standing at midfield watching, though, junior Claire Anderson said Schroeter's teammates believed in her.
“We were holding hands the whole time, saying, 'Come on. You got this, Brooklyn,'” she explained. “We knew she had it.”
Skutt’s Sophia Higgason stepped in front of the keeper during the fifth round of PKs and took her shot for the win.
“I was kind of predicting left because the rest of them had gone left,” Schroeter said. “So, it kind of caught me off guard because she went right.”
But the Bear went right, too, making the save and giving Brown the opportunity to put all of the pressure on the Skyhawks. The sophomore stepped into the box and took her shot, finding the back of the net on what wound up as the winning kick.
“I was just so excited to be put in that position because I really wanted to have the game in my hands,” the sophomore said. “I was just trying to relax and do what I’ve done every time in practice.”
Once Skutt's next attempt missed high, as noted above, the Bears celebrated their first state win in more than two decades. The players dogpiled on the turf, hugged their friends and family, and celebrated a memorable experience.
“That’s the cinderella ending that we were hoping for,” Knight said minutes after the match — the second last of her senior season.
The high-scoring Blair squad didn't tally a goal during regulation, but it pulled out the win.
“Brooklyn kind of saved us all game,” Hall said of his keeper. “She was just solid.”
NSAA CLASS B STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday
No. 1 GRETNA EAST 5, No. 5 BLAIR 1
BHS (16-3) 1 0 — 1
GE (19-0) 2 3 — 5
Goals: BHS — Laynie Brown 1. GE — Sonora Defini 3, Addison Larock 1, Kendall Dobberstein 1. Winning goalkeeper — Madelyn Schaffert.
May 14
No. 5 BLAIR 1, No. 4 OMAHA SKUTT 0, SO
BHS (16-2) 0 0 0 0 (5) — 1
SKUTT (14-5) 0 0 0 0 (4) — 0
Goals: None. PKs: BHS — Brynn Ray, Kaylie Johnson, Beau Wendt, Cadence Field and Laynie Brown. OS — Maura Ausman, Corinne Merkel, Abby Franco and Presley Douglas. Winning goalkeeper: Brooklyn Schroeter.
