McIntosh has been practicing penalty kicks every day for 20 minutes, but on Friday goalkeeper Kaitlin Deitrick still refused to watch until she had to take her line and try to stop Whitewater’s takers.
After regulation ended 1-1, Deitrick stopped two kicks to lead the Chiefs to the state AAAA girls soccer championship. Penalties ended 6-5. The victory gives McIntosh (18-4-1) the title and handed Whitewater in its third consecutive loss in the final.
“I was just praying for the girls,” said Deitrick, who stopped the second and seventh penalties, the last diving to her right. “We’ve worked so hard. The girls have worked so hard. We deserved this. We wanted it so much.”
After both teams scored in the first half, neither could unlock the other’s defense in regulation or 10 minutes of extra time. The two teams split their earlier matches this season: Whitewater winning 3-0 at home in the regular season and losing at home 1-0 in the region final. Perhaps because of their familiarity, McIntosh coach Marcia Clark said she thought it might come down to penalties.
Whitewater (18-4-1) missed a chance to take a quick lead in the first half when Deitrick came out to gather a long ball. Whitewater’s Taylor Marks got to it first, however, and headed it over Deitrick’s outstretched arms. Hannah Hartman hustled back and volleyed it away before the whole ball could cross the line.
The Chiefs missed their chanced eight minutes later when Gabby Seiler had a one-on-one with the keeper, only to power her shot over the goal.
Seiler missed another chance in another one-on-one situation, this time because Whitewater’s goalkeeper managed to deflect her shot with her foot. But Seiler wasn’t going to be stopped. Less than a minute later she was tackled in the box by Kathryn Tacy, resulting in a penalty kick with eight minutes remaining.
Co-captain Laura Higgason stepped up and made Strickland go the wrong way, slotting it left and giving the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. It was the first goal Whitewater has allowed in the playoffs this year.
The goal came against the run of play, with Whitewater controlling possession and outshooting the Chiefs by a large margin before the penalty kick. As a result, McIntosh was forced to go with long-ball counterattacks that usually left Seiler trying to defeat five defenders and Strickland.
But Whitewater got its reward for dominating the ball with a tying goal when Jenni Loveless headed in a beautiful corner from Peyton Roth with four minutes remaining.
Whitewater increased the pressure in the second half, with McIntosh rarely able to get out of its own end of the field in the first 20 minutes. The game steadily turned into a midfield battle, with neither team able to maintain possession long enough to build an attack.
Seiler almost stole the game in the final minutes when she beat three defenders and chipped a cross that the goalie mishandled at the near post. The ball bounced along the line before Whitewater managed to clear it.
“We played really well, they played really well, it just came down to penalties,” said Whitewater coach Randy Hayes, who expressed his displeasure that a state championship had to be decided in such a way.
