Getting their kicks

Smith-Cotton senior Stephanie Paul picked a great night to rejoin her teammates on the Lady Tigers soccer team.

Smith-Cotton’s 2-1 double overtime victory over district opponent Hickman marked the first time the senior took the field this season.

After receiving all-conference, all-district, and all-region honors for her junior season, Paul has spent her senior season watching from the sidelines with a torn ACL.

“It was our second (basketball) game of the season and I went up for a ball, it popped, and I found out I had a torn ACL,” Paul said.

While she has not been on the field, Paul maintained her leadership position by becoming an assistant coach and providing team motivation.

When she received a phone call from head coach Shawn Cairer asking her if she wanted to start on senior night, Paul could not say yes fast enough.

“It was great. It made me cry when coach asked me to play again. ... I said I’d love it,” Paul said.

The team’s two seniors, Paul and Katie Kirby started for the Lady Tigers.

Paul was removed shortly after the game began and received applause from the crowd at Susie Ditzfeld Memorial Field.

The first half of play saw many scoring opportunities, but no goals.

Halee Ruckman gave the Lady Tigers their first scoring opportunity with a pass to the back goal post, but Kristi Miller’s header sailed wide left.

A save by S-C’s Christian Sharp on the left side of the goal started an offensive stalemate that would continue until halftime.

The Lady Tigers failed to capitalize on a scoring opportunity 33 minutes into the first half.

A direct kick by Jessica Greer deflected off Hickman goalkeeper Kelsey Mescher. Miller gathered the loose ball and shot again, but a Hickman defender cleared the ball out of bounds.

The Lady Tigers ended the game’s scoring drought eight minutes into the second half.

Miller put the ball in the back of the net, compliments of a pass from Greer.

Hickman answered the challenge late in the game. Katie LaRue took advantage of a defensive breakdown and scored the tying goal.

A Tiffany Wehmeyer breakaway and a sliding shot by Greer failed to result in goals for S-C, and the game entered its first overtime tied at 1.

The Lady Tigers played aggressive offense in both overtimes, but were denied by the Kewpie defense.

In the second 10-minute overtime, S-C’s persistence was rewarded.

With three minutes to play in the second overtime, Ruckman found Wehmeyer on a direct kick for the game-winning goal.

“You could tell, especially during the end of the second half and the overtime, that we were the team that wanted it more,” Cairer said. “I think that was obvious. I just wish we could have played like that the entire game because there wouldn’t have been an overtime. It was a good win for the girls.”

The Tigers will attempt to complete a perfect West Central Conference season at 5 p.m. today when they travel to Kansas City to face O’Hara.