Citizen Staff Writer
GIRLS SOCCER
RODNEY HAAS
sports@tucsoncitizen.com
After 110 minutes and nine penalty kicks, the Class 4A Division I girls soccer state championship rested on the right foot of Jasmine Schultz.
With all eyes honed in on the Flowing Wells High School sophomore, Schultz calmly sent her kick toward the upper part of the goal.
It deflected off the hands of Sahuaro goalkeeper Kara Crawford, hitting the inside corner of the post and falling past the goal line into the net.
The penalty kick goal gave No. 9-seeded Flowing Wells a 1-0 (5-4 in penalty kicks) win over rival Sahuaro, the No. 3 seed, clinching the school’s second state title in the past three years.
“That was so scary,” Schultz said. “At first I didn’t think that I was going to make it, but once I got it, I was like ‘Yes!’ ”
The Kino Region rivals – Sahuaro beat Flowing Wells in the regular season meeting between the two teams while Flowing Wells won in the region tournament championship game – were scoreless through regulation and two overtime periods at Tucson High School.
In the shootout, the teams were tied at 2 when Flowing Wells keeper Brooke Anderson stopped Dana Hill’s shot.
“When I saved it I was really happy, then I was hoping for my team to make all their goals because I knew if they did we would win,” Anderson said.
Anderson’s teammates obliged, capped by Schultz’s championship-clinching goal.
Sahuaro had scoring opportunities in the 80th minute when Lily Haspert’s breakaway shot went wide, one of two shots on goal the team had in the final 30 seconds of regulation.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of the girls,” said Haspert, one of 12 Sahuaro seniors who played their final high school game Saturday. “As soon as it went into penalty kicks, we couldn’t lose in a better way because penalty kicks are just luck. Sometimes they happen for you, and sometimes they don’t.”
Flowing Wells also had ample opportunities to get on the board before the shootout, including having 15 corner kicks.
“We scored a lot of goals off of set pieces and corner kicks this year,” Flowing Wells coach Sean Ochoa said. “We work on them 15, 20 minutes a day, driving balls, getting the header at the end of it, and we were surprised that we didn’t get any of them today.”
Despite the loss, the senior-laden Cougars’ were holding their heads high.
“I just look back and I have no regrets walking off this field,” senior Miranda Brower said. “It’s been our motto and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls. We tried our hardest and we gave everything we had.
“I don’t know necessarily if the better team won but we know in our hearts that we did our best and that’s all we can say. We have no regrets.”