Girls soccer: P.K. Yonge uses explosive second half to beat Keystone Heights for district crown
There’s a district championship pizza party in store Friday for Coach Rebecca Schackow’s P.K. Yonge girls soccer squad.
Capping an undefeated district slate, the Blue Wave scored all six of their goals in the second half to defeat Keystone Heights 6-1 and capture the Class 3A District 4 title Thursday night.
Sophomore forward Faith Hardy led the way with a monstrous four-goal effort in a match where P.K. Yonge (12-4-1) struggled with offsides calls and wide shots early on but made its runs count after the break.
“We’ll go and compete in regional next week, but this week I wanted to win the district championship, and so did they,” Schackow said.
Junior Marleigh Schackow and senior Chloe Westbrooks added the other two scores for the Blue Wave on a day where they earned 23 shots on goal as a team.
Indians sophomore goalkeeper Aspen Krohn didn’t finish the game but impressed all with an 18-save outing in the loss.
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Here are three takeaways from the district final:
Slow first half for both teams gives way to P.K. Yonge avalanche
The first forty minutes held no shortage of action. They did, however, feature a pair of sluggish offenses.
The Blue Wave recorded 14 shots on goal in the first half and held the Indians to just two, but their front line was called offsides repeatedly. When P.K. Yonge players did break through, many shots went wide left, wide right or directly at the keeper.
“We had to adjust that they were calling it so tight,” Schackow said. “That was really trying to have the girls check themselves, watch where they were, but it’s a discipline.”
Schackow said some minor changes and a little rejuvenation were all the needed adjustments at the break.
“We had to decide to settle in and be patient instead of forcing it,” Schackow said.
“We also changed a few players around where we thought their strengths would match up against our opponents a little bit better. Reassuring them, it made all the difference.”
That difference was evident almost immediately in the second half. Less than six minutes in, Hardy took a corner kick for P.K. Yonge and placed it perfectly in the box.
Marleigh Schackow’s head, mostly featured at center back in the first half, was there to redirect it and put her team on the board.
“It changed the whole momentum,” the elder Schackow said. “I kept telling them, ‘Be patient; it’s ok; it’ll happen.’”
“Keystone presented a huge challenge, and then Marleigh opened it up with that, and it was like they all went ‘OK, now we can start playing soccer.’”
Hardy breaks free again and again
With an assist under her belt and up 1-0, Faith Hardy was due for her turn after a frustrating opening half.
When it came, it came in bunches.
Less than two minutes after Schackow’s goal, the sophomore stayed onsides and broke away from the Keystone Heights (19-5) backline and put the ball in the bottom left corner of the net.
Four minutes after that, Hardy chipped one between Krohn’s legs to extend P.K. Yonge’s lead to 3-0 and keep the momentum rolling.
The Blue Wave, led by Hardy created a much more efficient offense in the second half, scoring their six goals on just nine shots. Patiently crafted, the runs and overlaps began to gel together, but no one could match Hardy’s speed from anywhere on the pitch.
A 2.4 goals per game scorer coming into Thursday, she’d add two more before her night was over, punishing the Keystone Heights defense almost every time she came downfield.
Krohn stellar in the losing effort
The first half remained scoreless largely in part to Krohn’s stellar play in goal. The sophomore weathered the Blue Wave’s attacks and made 14 saves before the break.
Schackow gave credit to Krohn’s efforts after the match.
“The saves she made, there were a lot of them,” Schackow said. “She was awesome.”
Krohn’s backline defense made a handful of plays in the opening frame, ensuring some of P.K. Yonge’s runs ended up as corner kicks and not goals with well-executed slide tackles.
Late in the opening half, Hardy had her best pair of looks at the goal inside the six-yard box, but Krohn saved the initial shot and the second that came after a ricochet off her own leg.
If it weren’t for a handful of broken plays and speedy runs in the second half by Hardy, Krohn might have kept the Indians competitive and sent the game into extra time.
After Hardy got her third goal of the night with less than 10 minutes remaining, Keystone Heights coach Roger Laurents elected to replace her with senior Miranda Yow. Krohn came to the bench to a rousing ovation from the Indians faithful.
Both teams, ranked first and second in the district, are likely to be included in the Class 3A regional stage but will await Friday’s official playoff draw.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Girls high school soccer: P.K. Yonge wins district over Keystone Heights
