Chargers shocked: Upset by Emerald Ridge in penalties

The Kentridge girls soccer team came into the postseason in unbelievable form over the last eight games, going 6-1-1, with their one loss against No. 2 seeded Tahoma in their final regular season game.

The Chargers entered the West Central District Tournament as the No. 9 seed, just missing out on the top 8 spot guaranteeing double elimination. But Kentridge was paired up with No. 16 Emerald Ridge in what would be their final game of the year.

”It’s been great coaching them, it’s always an honor. Some of the seniors I have coached maybe five or six years,” Head Coach Jeff Fleming said. “We lost most of our first eight and won most of our second eight. Defensively we got much better. That was one of the reasons of the swing.”

Emerald Ridge played their best game of the season and beat Kentridge in a penalty shootout after being level 1-1 after full time and two 5:00 overtime periods. The Jaguars converted on four of their six penalty attempts while Kentridge made just three of six.

”This is tough, to watch that. Some of it is a coin flip at the end. It shouldn’t have gotten that far, but it did. We put ourselves in a hole and couldn’t quite climb out of this one,” Fleming said.

The Jaguars jumped up and bit Kentridge and executed when it mattered in a penalty shootout, of which the Chargers started practicing for the past week.

It was an out of character performance from Kentridge from the start, and a wind-aided goal put the Jaguars on the board early.

The 1-0 deficit lasted much longer than any player, coach or parent could have imagined. Scoring goals had been no issue all season long, and over their six game winning streak, the Chargers scored multiple goals in five of them.

“After they scored the goal we were kind of down and understood we needed to work our way back up in the game,” junior Jenae Stephenson said.

But in regular time, Kentridge managed just one goal, which came in the 63rd minute. Natalia Krall-Cruz was given a perfect pass and beat the Emerald Ridge backline with her speed and the goalie with her precision.

After the goal, Kentridge was relentless looking for the lead, and multiple shots were just wide. Krall-Cruz hit the crossbar, and a header hit the post. But the Emerald Ridge defense held strong and pushed this game to overtime.

“After scoring the first goal, it got our momentum up and we were ready to continue on and win the game. But we just couldn’t come through, especially during overtime,” Stephenson said.

Senior Kenzie Coble was called on in the penalty shootout. A softball player by trade gave Kentridge a shot, making two saves and coming awfully close to making four saves on the first four shots.

Coble got a hand on the first four shots, but saved two of them in the shootout, and it came down to Kentridge’s penalty takers to win it.

“She’s an excellent goalkeeper. Kenzie being able to get four touches and save two is really impressive,” Stephenson said.

Emerald Ridge converted on all three of their attempts while Lauren Covello and Jenae Stephenson made both of their shots. Makenna Bennett missed her shot and put the pressure on Coble to pick up her teammate.

Coble saved the next shot from Madison Gibson, which was followed by a Gigi Kristenson make.

“She was ready to go, she was fired up. She had lots of energy, we almost got there,” Fleming said. “As a keeper she’s gonna be really upset at herself, but there should be none of that. She played great.”

Coble then saved the next shot and gave Kaitlyn Moody a chance to win the game. Her shot went high, swinging momentum back to Emerald Ridge. Rylie Baclay of Emerald Ridge made the would-be game winning shot. But the pressure came to Addy Hughes, who stepped up and took her penalty, pushing it just wide of the net.

“I don’t try and dwell on that moment. I want the teammates to support the teammates and coaches support the teammates. It’s emotionally really upsetting for them. I’m not going to dwell on if you missed something,” Fleming said. “Just support each other and move on, you should be proud of yourself.”

Penalty shootouts are incredibly hard, and having a group environment like Kentridge is massively important. Especially when in today’s sporting environment, the pressure and intensity rests on a knife’s edge. Missing penalties wasn’t the reason Kentridge lost — a lucky bounce off the post or any other combination of events leads to losses in games like this.

Stephenson emphasized that losses will happen, but it’s important to keep looking ahead. “Just move forward from it, there is nothing you can do about it now. Just come back stronger next season,” Stephenson said.

Heartbreak doesn’t begin to describe the pain the Kentridge girls felt. Seven seniors played their last game for the green and gold, and their season ended in an instant. Fleming had coached some of the seniors for longer than they have been in high school.

“I’ll miss ‘em, I’ll miss all of them. They have had great leadership, great work rate, all the stuff you’d want out of great leaders,” Fleming said.

Stephenson said she goes back to third grade with some of the seniors on this roster. The last four years, they have made a big impact on the Kentridge program.

“We are the type of team that can hang out, outside of school. We were hanging out last night, preparing for the game and getting our minds right,” Stephenson said. “We might not be as good as we were this year. It’s going to be a big adjustment.”