Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

Coming into Tuesday nights game, the Stars knew it was going to be a tough battle. The Stars and Athenians had met in the regular season finale, with Crawfordsville winning 1-0 on a second-half penalty kick. Head Coach Shane Steimel said the Stars knew if they cleaned a couple things up, they would have a chance to win and advance, and they did just that. "We played a very different game than we did last week against them," Steimel said. "The girls recognized where the space was and we didn't play pretty soccer, but we played smart soccer and played to beat a specific opponent. The girls executed what we asked them to do." Western Boone took the lead midway through the first half, when Kale Conner out-raced her defender after given a pass by Ellie Whitley, and Conner put a shot into the far corner of the net. It capped a strong opening 20 minutes for the Stars, who made sure they continued to press the Athenians in the back and midfield. “I thought Kale's goal really set the tone," Steimel said. "She had several good runs today, and I thought River Roys had some really nice runs to keep the pressure." It looked for most of the game that the one goal would hold up. Somers made a nice diving save to her right later in the first half, and the Stars defensive unit of Kylee Trent, Ki'erra Koch, Lindsey Steimel Steimel and Bailey Keyes kept the Athenians at bay. But disaster struck with less than a minute left in regulation, when some miscommunication in the back resulted in an own goal tying the match at 1’s. But the Stars didn't hang their heads, played a strong overtime and regrouped heading into PK shootouts. All eyes were on Western Boone sophomore goalkeeper Cora Somers. But being in that situation for the first time didn't seem to faze Somers at all, as she stopped two of the five Athenian kicks she faced helping the Stars advance 1-1 (4-3 on PKs). "I knew I had to stay calm," Somers said. "The odds were 50-50 and you have to keep your head up, if one goes in, one goes in." Somers had only faced one PK all year, coincidentally against Crawfordsville last week, and got a good read on it, but it scored. She credited the work the Stars do in practice on penalty kicks to getting her ready for her moment. "Practicing them in practice really helped get my mentality up and got me ready," Somers said. "I'm really grateful we got the win, and I couldn't do it without my team. Without them boosting me up, it could have gone south really quick. They are great." Somers stopped the first shot of the shootout, diving to her right to make the save. Addie Jones then stepped up and made her shot to give the Stars a 1-0 advantage. Crawfordsville made their next three shots, but Kylee Trent, Hannah Hayden and Lindsey Steimel all matched with makes of their own. Somers then ended the shootout with another save to the right, pouncing on the ball before celebrating with her teammates. "That first save really set the tone and put the pressure on all their girls," Western Boone head coach Shane Steimel said. "I've told the girls all year, that we were going to have a game like this. I felt very good with how prepared our girls were to take the penalty kicks and how well Cora defends them. The girls weren't afraid of going to PKs. I felt good about the four that took the kicks and our fifth and sixth with Becca Keyes and Kale Conner. We have a lot of good options and I loved the way they played with composure when it matters most." "I'm super proud of them (for regrouping)," Steimel said. "When we came back from a 1-0 deficit at North Putnam a couple weeks ago, we started to believe in ourselves and showed a little more character. You hope that the girls learn some resiliency, sports is supposed to teach you that, and they showed that tonight." Western Boone advances to face Tri-West in the sectional semifinal on Thursday at Tri-West. They will play the early match at 5:30 to attempt an advance to the finals! Come support the team!