Sunday, November 14, 1999
Lakota West girls state soccer champs
BY MARK SCHMETZER
Enquirer contributor
Krista Kalkhoff mades the game-winning stop in the shootout.
(AP photo)
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COLUMBUS — The Lakota West Firebirds and Hudson Lady Explorers needed 53 minutes to warm up, but practically no time to get red hot.
What started as a defensive struggle turned into a shootout and it wasn't over before Lakota West senior Kara McCue scored on the Firebirds' sixth penalty kick and goalkeeper Krista Kalkhoff stopped Jaime Gruber's shot to give the Firebirds a 3-2 win in the Division I girls soccer state championship game before 1,824 at Columbus Crew Stadium Saturday night.
“This is something you never forget,” said McCue, a co-captain. “To win the state championship in a place like this — I feel like I'm on top of the world right now.”
Kalkhoff, whose save during a shootout helped give Lakota West a win in the semifinals, rebounded from allowing two late second-half goals by diving to her right to knock away Gruber's low shot.
“It's like I said the other night — you just pick a way and go,” Kalkhoff said. “Tonight, I went the opposite way from the other night. It's a 50-50 guess.”
Lakota West (18-2-3), which was tied for No.7 in the final Associated Press state rankings, becomes the first of the Lakota teams to win a state championship since Lakota was split into West and East in 1997. Hudson, the state's 10th-ranked team, finished 16-4-3.
“This is awesome,” said Schafer, who coached Lakota for one year before taking the West job. “A lot of people thought when we first split that one team might be strong and one weak, or both might be weak, but I think we're both doing really well. We really got lucky. I was able to keep the core of my team from Lakota. I've had a lot of them for four years now.”
The game was scoreless until Lakota West senior co-captain Amber Wilson touched off the second-half outburst by heading in a corner kick from junior Kim Comisar with 26:04 left in the second half. The goal was her team-high 14th of the season and Comisar's assist gave her 11 to tie Wilson for the team lead.
Hudson responded with two goals less than two minutes apart, both of them off direct kicks. Sophomore Laura Boland took advantage of a loose rebound to score the game-tying goal from 14 yards out with 10:38 left in the second half.
Gruber gave Hudson the lead with 9:15 left in the half on a header off a direct kick by senior Christy Reker.
“I thought, after the first goal, that we would hold them,” Schafer said. “But this team fights back all the time.”
Comisar, whose shootout goal in the semifinals gave Lakota West its first-ever berth in the state finals, forced overtime with a left-footed goal from 20 yards out off a corner kick by senior Clare Applegate. Comisar's goal was her sixth of the season.
“It's like she says, she doesn't care how many she scores, but when she scores them,” Schafer said.
Hudson was making its second appearance in the state finals and first since losing in 1995. Lakota West was the second Greater Miami Conference team to reach the Division I finals, following Fairfield's appearance in a losing effort last season.
Greater Cincinnati had produced four state champions and six runner-ups since the Ohio High School Athletic Association started sanctioning girls soccer in 1985.
Goals: LW — Wilson, Ki. Comisar. H — L. Boland, Gruber. Records: Lakota West 18-2-3, Hudson 16-4-3.
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