Park Hill secured its position in the driver’s seat to repeat as conference champions by keeping its conference winning streak intact last week with a rivalry win, defeating Park Hill South 3-0 on April 14 at the Park Hill District Soccer Field.
A pair of first-half scores and a commanding goalkeeper performance from sophomore Elise Zeller led the Trojans to a third consecutive triumph over their district rivals. Zeller has guided the Trojans to three wins in three games against the Panthers, yet to concede a goal.
The Trojans opened the scoring just over seven minutes in after a loose touch from Park Hill South near midfield allowed Laurel Barton to step in and win the ball for Park Hill. The Trojans eventually worked the ball out wide left for Avery Dec, who cut a cross back towards the penalty spot, but after a deflection redirected the ball back in the direction of Maryn Hudson, the senior forward made no mistake in taking a touch to set up a shot with her right foot, putting the Trojans ahead 1-0.
Windy conditions made it difficult to pass the ball through the air, so the Panthers elected to try and work a goal kick up from the back. That came back to bite midway through the first half after Park Hill’s pressure from a goal kick led to a corner kick.
Park Hill senior defender Alyssa Estanich scored an olimpico against Park Hill South, scoring directly from a corner kick on April 14.
Alyssa Estanich, who hit her previous corner out of bounds, had much better fortune this time as she scored an olimpico after making the long jog from her defensive position. Estanich whipped an in-swinging delivery with her right foot from the corner flag as another Trojan forward darted towards the near post, where her presence caused enough chaos that South was unable to keep the ball out of the net.
Park Hill South had some shots in the first half, mostly untroubling for sophomore goalkeeper Elise Zeller. South’s best chance of the opening 40 minutes came from a free kick in the final 15 minutes, when Sarah Listrom’s effort from just beyond the corner of the box floated into the thankful arms of Zeller before a Panther could apply a redirection.
Park Hill eventually extended its lead to 3-0 nine minutes into the second half. Shortly after having an initial attack denied, a second wave charged forward, and after patience from Hudson holding the ball up top, she set up Myer Cohara on a run to break the final line with ease before applying the final nail to seal the victory.
The Panthers had a promising move down the right side shortly after, but a tame shot was easily saved by Zeller diving low to her left.
South’s closest chance came from Listrom directly off another free kick, this time a chance in the 65th minute more centrally located from approximately 30 yards out. Listrom caught the ball well, but Zeller matched it with a save diving high to her left.
Zeller’s dominance continued two days later, when she helped Park Hill on both ends of the pitch to add another conference win at home on April 16, thumping St. Joseph Central 7-0.
Zeller guided the Trojans towards another clean sheet for most of the contest as the goalkeeper, but a substitution late allowed her to swap into the forward line, where she eventually scored the first goal of her Trojan career.
Hudson scored twice in the first half before the Trojans got second-half goals from Cohara, Dec, Jenna Brown, Jovie Lavin and Zeller. Park Hill improved to 6-2 overall, 3-0 in conference play as they stretched their conference winning streak to eight straight.
The Trojans hit the road next for matchups against Oak Park on April 21 and Liberty on April 28. They return home to face North Kansas City on April 30.