Girls soccer: Timothy Christian eliminated in PKs

Through the second half and the two overtime sessions of the Class 1A Timothy Christian regional final Friday, the host Trojans were the more dangerous team.

But after narrowly missing on a handful of opportunities that would have broken a scoreless tie, it was their opponent, Holy Trinity, that found the mark during penalty kicks.

The visitors converted two of their four opportunities to ultimately prevail and advance to the IC Catholic Prep sectional after Timothy Christian was held to one make in five attempts.

"I wouldn't do it any different," said Timothy Christian coach Jon Hamelinck, whose team finished the 2017 season with a record of 5-14-1. "I wouldn't change how they played or the order of the penalty kicks. Chins up. They played well and their parents are proud of them and I'm proud of them."

In the penalty kicks Trojans goalkeeper Shauna Smits made 2 saves to give her team a chance. But Danielle Beard was the only one who could score as a pair of attempts deflected off the crossbar while the other two went right at the goalie. Karol Gonzalez and Joseline Mena scored for Holy Trinity.

"I had a good feeling with my five," Hamelinck said. "They just had a little more composure than we did. Where we hit the balls wasn't where we were aiming. But credit Shauna, she made two big saves that kept us in it."

Though neither team could score through 100 minutes, it was Timothy Christian that came the closest. Forward Maddie Schaafsma had three shots miss the right goal post by a couple of feet in the second half before again almost scoring with under a minute left in regulation.

Abby Carstensen also had a pair of quality chances in the second extra session that were turned away by the Holy Trinity goalie.

"I thought we were in control for a good portion of the game," said Hamelinck, whose team played much of the spring without senior captain Ali Zeilstra due to an ankle injury. "I thought we passed well and stayed connected. We just couldn't get that one goal. But a credit to their keeper, she just swallowed up some of our shots."