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By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – At the start of Melissa Kuhar’s first season in charge of the Greenwood girls soccer program, the coach never imagined it would involve a moment like Wednesday evening.
The team hadn’t won a district title since 2015 – and had not finished above .500 in a decade.
Kuhar believed this would be the year the Blue Jays would snap the streak of losing seasons, but a championship seemed a bit far-fetched for a program that had won just 13 games since 2017.
“I don’t think they thought they could do it,” Kuhar said. “When I took over, I think they knew they would be better. But game after game after game, we just kept winning and it grew their confidence.”
In the middle of the season, Kuhar realized that a potential district championship was a lot closer than anyone anticipated. She told the team, which further fueled their confidence.
It all led up to a historic victory on Wednesday evening, as the Blue Jays dominated McAuley Catholic en route to a 4-1 victory in the Class 1 District 6 championship game at Greenwood Field.
Annabelle Sonnemaker scored three goals and the Blue Jays outshot the Warriors 21-2 to punch their ticket to the state quarterfinals. Greenwood will host District 5 champion Crocker (13-8) next Saturday, May 28, for a chance to advance to the first Final Four in school history.
“They proved me wrong a little bit,” Kuhar said. “I was excited. I just wanted a .500 season. I was happy with that for my first year. This is a dream. This is awesome.”
It’s even more special for this year’s senior class.
The Blue Jays went winless in 2019, lost the entire 2020 season to COVID-19 and suffered five one-goal losses during last year’s 7-8 campaign. The significance is hard to put into words.
“It’s amazing,” senior defender Reagan Rosen said. “We’ve worked for this for four years now and we’re finally getting it as seniors. It’s so exciting.”
What changed?
For one, the coach.
Kuhar came to Greenwood with four year of collegiate coaching experience, most recently serving as an assistant coach with Drury. She knew the group was better than its record indicated.
She just had to get them to believe it – and soon enough they did.
“When we started the season, coach told us we had lost so many games last year by one point and we’re going to turn that around this year,” Rosen said. “We’re going to win those games. We have the potential to do it. We’re going to do it. Having that mindset of her believing in us and telling us the whole time ‘You are going to do this. You are going to get there. You are going to get to the state Final Four’ has just pushed us to be better.”
The results are indisputable.
At 14-3, the Blue Jays have already won more games this year than in the previous four combined. They have eight shutout wins and are holding opponents to less than a goal per game.
“I told them from day one, it’s confidence,” Kuhar said. “Confidence is going to get you where we need to be. You guys are good enough. You’re capable. I just stress that every single day. Anytime I heard them say they couldn’t do something, I called them out and I yelled at them. ‘No, you have to have that mentality.’ That’s what created our program to have eight shutouts and cut our goals against in half. That was the confidence. Confidence is the biggest thing.”
The Blue Jays also benefited from a favorable district assignment.
The other three teams in the tournament – Fair Grove, Liberty and the Warriors – finished a combined 7-38. Greenwood beat the trio in the regular season by an aggregate score of 20-3.
“You have to come into every game thinking we’re playing a top-five team in the state,” Kuhar said. “That mentality, they kind of threw away any previous game and had the mentality that we’re playing a really good team. We have to give everything. That was kind of the switch to get us to come out fast, to come out strong, to have that success.”
The Blue Jays recorded seven shots in the game’s first 10 minutes, taking a 1-0 lead on junior Tess Fowler’s goal in the seventh minute. Sonnemaker doubled the lead in the 20th as the Blue Jays entered the break with a 13-0 shots advantage.
“We want to score early and often,” Kuhar said. “That’s something I stress. If you get ahead early, you can kind of sit back into a game. I told them our mentality going into the playoffs was – no matter if we were down by three goals or up by three goals – we’d always have a 0-0 mentality. The game is always close. I think that brings that fire, that passion and that energy. They don’t care if they’re up 7-0 or 8-0. They’re coming at you. That’s the mentality and the fire that I instilled in them. I think that’s why we get off to those early starts.”
McAuley Catholic keeper Lindsey Griesmer kept the Warriors close with 17 saves, including a diving slide to knock the ball away from Sonnemaker in the 38th minute.
But Sonnemaker stretched Greenwood’s lead to 3-0 in the 47th minute, tucking a shot just inside the post. McAuley’s Bella Maningas broke up the shutout on a penalty kick in the 75th, but Sonnemaker completed the hat trick and restored the three-goal lead one minute later.
The senior’s unrivaled speed was a key factor in all three goals – and so many others this year.
“She’s awesome,” Rosen said. “Every game, I’m so impressed. She starts halfway across the field and finishes at the goal and gets us a goal. It’s crazy. I’ve loved playing with her these past four years and I’m excited to finish the season with her.”
As she held the district championship plaque, Wednesday’s star echoed that excitement.
“These girls are so amazing,” Sonnemaker said. “I really don’t want to say it was just me. It was really the whole team coming together and going out there and playing all these games. And this is what we get in return. We get first place in districts – and hopefully further.”
McAULEY CATHOLIC (3-9) 0 1 — 1
GREENWOOD (14-3) 2 2 — 4
