Park Hill South’s boys soccer team has made conference titles an annual tradition, and this year is no exception.
The Panthers clinched the sole title in the Greater KC Suburban Red Division on Oct. 27, defeating Oak Park 2-0 to complete a six-match unbeaten run in conference play. They earned the title with five wins and a draw.
“It’s certainly a feather in their cap,” Park Hill South head coach Chris Lawson said. “There’s some good teams in our conference. Being able to play consistently well against your conference teams, and beat them, is certainly a plus for us.”
South opened conference play with a pair of road matchups, defeating Liberty 3-1 on Sept. 24 and St. Joseph Central 3-0 on Oct. 8. After a 1-1 draw with Lee’s Summit North, the Panthers won their final three, which included a 4-2 rivalry win over Park Hill and a 3-0 road triumph against North Kansas City.
Park Hill South’s conference-sealing win over Oak Park came from two early goals.
Junior midfielder Nico Pastorino scored the opener in the seventh minute, capping off an eight-pass sequence with a quick left-footed shot from 12 yards out for his eighth goal of the season.
The attack originated when junior center back Sam Reeves won the ball and eventually found Micah Wright checking into the midfield. Wright found Nazzal Odeh running down the left wing, with the ball eventually finding Pastorino after Hank Lisenby’s layoff in the box.
Park Hill South junior Micah Wright battles against Oak Park in a match on Oct. 27.
Wright made it 2-0 just four minutes later with his eighth goal of the season. Once again, Reeves started the attack from the back by providing the assist on a direct ball to the forward line for Wright, who lashed the ball into the back of the net with his right foot.
The two goals featured four of the team’s most effective players: Pastorino, Wright, Reeves and Odeh. All four bring uniquely different impacts to the team and reign from a hugely influential junior class.
Junior winger Nazzal Odeh led the Panthers with 15 goals in 19 games entering districts.
“A really, really talented class,” Lawson said of his juniors. “Good leaders; they lead by example. They get a lot going, but we need our seniors, our juniors, some sophomores and even a couple freshmen starting for us at times.”
Odeh highlights the group as the team’s leading scorer with 15 goals in the regular season. Wright and Pastorino tallied eight goals each, with Wright adding a team-high nine assists and Pastorino finishing second with seven.
Reeves anchors Park Hill South’s defense, also adding a goal and an assist. South’s defense, which kept seven clean sheets, is rounded out by the goalkeeping tandem of junior Landon Horst and freshman Ross Kelly, plus senior center back Owen Thowe, junior full back Max Fox and senior full back Logan Curtis.
“Your program goes as your seniors go, and we have some good leadership,” Lawson said. “Our seniors know what it takes; they’ve just got to continue to dial it in consistently to manage their role, play to our identity and work for each other.”
In addition to Thowe and Curtis in the defense, the Panthers’ midfield is anchored by senior Nick Parra. Lisenby and Finn Killoren also provide a senior presence up top.
“It says a lot about the overall depth of the team,” Lawson said of the program’s consistency.
“This team has several common denominators. All of our players from 1-21 have stepped up, been ready to play and managed their role. It says a lot about their resilience and what Coach (Chris) Farmer and his staff did last year getting these guys ready.”
Freshman defender Landon Baer against Oak Park.
Lawson has also given time to a trio of freshmen, primarily off the bench. Kelly, who typically splits halves with Horst, impressed Lawson in preseason and has appeared in 15 games, making 27 saves, while defender Landon Baer and midfielder Mateo Pastorino have both been introduced to the varsity level as freshmen.
“These guys have higher goals, which they set from the outset,” Lawson said. “Now, we’ve got to dial it in because it’s one-and-done. You’ve got to live to play another game.”
Park Hill South now shifts its focus to postseason play as it looks for a second straight Class 4 District 8 title, entering the tournament as the No. 2 seed. That journey begins Nov. 3 with a district quarterfinal matchup against No. 7 Oak Park.
“Everybody has to play like a senior next week when it gets going,” Lawson said.
If South advances, it will face the winner of No. 3 Liberty and No. 6 North Kansas City in the semifinals on Nov. 5. The finals are slated for Nov. 9.
Park Hill South finished the regular season 12-6-1, but has just one loss in its last nine matches. Lawson liked his team’s strength of schedule, and now it’s time for them to show they can find ways to survive and advance.
“Everybody we’ve played this year we’ve created opportunities against, but we’ve had a few times where we haven’t honored our principles of play,” he said. “There have been a few times where our opponent has out-capitalized us, and even though we created more chances, we didn’t finish them.”
If the Panthers make it to the district finals, they are likely to see top-seeded Liberty North or a No. 4-seeded Park Hill team they’ve already beaten.
“It’s going to come down to one or two plays, and you hope you’re going to be on the positive side of those plays that need to be made,” Lawson said.