The Bluejays were the first to score, but the Lady Vikes managed to level the game with a goal from freshman Rylee Eberhardt, marking her third goal in the past four games.
As neither team could break the tie during overtime, the match proceeded to a penalty shootout, which was the Lady Vikes' first in two years. Kiara Kula successfully scored a goal during the shootout, while Tori Osten scored the decisive game-winning goal. The Lady Vikes thus concluded their regular season with a thrilling victory.
"We really struggled connecting passes and communicating. I thought it was kind of a disaster in the first half. The second half I told the girls it's fine, just calm down," Lakeview girls head coach Mike Zimmerman said. "It was Senior Night and the girls were kind of worked up about that too. I don't know if it was that. The shootout was good. The girls fought hard in the second half. We controlled the game probably 90% of the time. It's been the struggle all season long that we can't finish."
Zimmerman explained that he chose to replace sophomore Brooklyn Jarecki with sophomore Jayda Kingston for the shootout due to the latter's slightly taller stature.
"Brooklyn (Jarecki) had the whole game and she did a really good job. It was a coach's call," he said. "I told Brooklyn you did fine, but I'm going to go with Jayda (Kingston) since she's a little taller. Jayda did really well. She stopped a couple shots, which proved to be the win."
Finishing the regular season with a 3-7 record, Lakeview experienced a rough start with five consecutive losses. However, the Lady Vikes rallied towards the end, winning three of their last five games.
Despite the team's youth, featuring five or six freshmen and inexperienced sophomores, Coach Zimmerman expressed pride in their growth throughout the season, citing their newfound passion for the sport and eagerness to improve as promising signs for the future.
Moving on to the postseason, the Lady Vikes will begin as the No. 4 seed and face off against No. 5 South Sioux City in the first round of the Class B-6 subdistrict tournament on Saturday at 2 p.m. If successful, they will advance to the subdistrict semifinal on Monday at 5 p.m. against No. 1 Scotus Central Catholic.
Zimmerman encouraged the team to take it one game at a time, noting the importance of playing hard and always aiming for the win.
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