Platte County still looking to unlock full potential

Platte County shows the flashes, but a combination of injuries, inexperience in key positions and occasional lapses in temperament have likely kept the Pirates from seeing their full potential this season.

At least so far.

All of those elements were on display in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Park Hill South on Thursday night at Park Hill District Soccer Complex in what ended up the finale of a cobbled-together round robin version of the annual Panther Classic. Platte County dominated portions of the first half only to give an absolute gut-punch opening goal in literally the final second before halftime then undid a potential comeback effort with two red cards that left them to finish off the match with only nine players.

After going down 2-0 in the 59th minute, Platte County closed the gap on senior forward Aaron Cordova’s highlight-reel goal off a crafty free kick restart from junior Gavin Nichols, and even down two men, the Pirates nearly leveled an audacious long-range strike from senior midfielder Connor Currence with 4 minutes left in regulation. Ultimately, they dropped to 8-5 with a tight loss to a strong Class 4 program.

“That’s what we tell these guys,” Platte County coach Ashlyn Brantley said. “When we come out and we’re ready to play, these guys can go against anyone, and I hope they leave the field with their heads held high. We lost today, but they can play with any of these teams. We’ll take all of our players every time. We’ll take them over anyone.”

Platte County entered on a season-best three-match winning streak with Cordova seemingly at full fitness after struggling with a quad injury most of the season and senior goalkeeper Jordan Hedrick back after passing concussion protocol. The Pirates have also settled on a three-man backline of freshman Jackson Goodale and seniors Joseph Ibarra and Mark Wiesehan — all in their first season as defenders — with encouraging results in stabilizing that rebuilt unit.

The deciding game of the Panther Classic appeared headed for the hosts after a quick restart from Park Hill South sophomore Jake Farmer after a foul on the edge of the box. He quickly served up an aerial ball for junior Rory Gladden-Kvist, who neatly finished a wide-open header against an exposed Hedrick in the 59th minute.

Platte County managed to cut the lead in half just 5 minutes later. A foul outside the box left the Pirates with a set piece chance almost straight out from 20 yards away, and they went into the bag of tricks. Nichols gently nudged the ball forward for Cordova, who curled a blastedright-footed shot into the upper right corner of the goal to make it 2-1.

“That was a wicked shot. It was well struck,” Brantley said.

The comeback effort started to unravel in the 66th minute when junior Ahoy Victore, settling into a role on the right wing of midfield, committed a foul and then appeared to step on the chest of a Park Hill South player, drawing a straight red card. The game went to 10 vs. 10 with the Panthers also drawing a red card for a somewhat justified hostile reaction to Victore’s cleating.

In the 74th minute, Ibarra drew a second yellow card and by virtue a red and a sending off after coming up from a foul with an aggressive two-handed shove to the back of the offending Park Hill South player.

“We’ve been talking about it all season even before we started playing games that (emotions) would be one of our weaknesses this season that we’ve been trying to work on throughout the season,” Brantley said. “And as you can see we still have some progress to make on that front. I think this might be a breaking point for the team as a whole, and hopefully it is so that we can turn that corner, and we can do it together and be consistent with our play and our mentality.”

Platte County continued to attack in the final minutes, and Currence nearly provided a stunning equalizer in the 76th minute. He took a dropoff pass deep in midfield and hit a shot from 40-plus yards out with his right foot and watched as the attempt curled toward the upper-right corner only to go inches outside the post.

Park Hill South saw out the final minutes to win the tournament title.

In a much more tame opening half, Platte County saw a good portion of possession but struggled to create clear-cut opportunities. Park Hill South appeared content to mostly defend and counter attack but came up with a breakthrough in the 40th minute. As the announcer counted down the final 10 seconds of the first half, the ball pinged around in the Pirates box before senior Tyler Dansby fired a shot that sailed past Hedrick (eight saves) with just 1 second on the clock.

“That’s soccer for you, and you have to play to that last second because you never know what can happen, especially when it’s bouncing around in your box,” Brantley said. “You can’t take it for granted that the time is going to run out; you can’t take it for granted someone else is going to cover it. They were lucky in that last second, and it happened.”

Coming out of halftime, Platte County could not create any opportunities on goal with a pair of corner kicks and a free kick from a favorable spot. Hedrick made three of his saves to keep the deficit at one goal, and Dansby saw a glancing header from in front of goal sail wide left in the 58th minute, just prior to Gladden-Kvist finishing a nearly identical chance a minute later to provide the two-goal advantage.

Platte County 3, Park Hill 1

Cordova netted a hat trick to lead the Pirates to victory Monday at Park Hill District Soccer Complex in Riverside.

The first two came late int he first half and staked Platte County to a 2-0 lead at the break. Cordova converted in the 36th minute on an assist from freshman midfielder Cameron Habel then beat the countdown with about 35 seconds left in the 40th minute on a connection with Nichols, who had three shots on goal.

Park Hill pulled one back in the second half, but Cordova added an unassisted marker in the 68th minute to close out the scoring.

Hedrick made nine saves.

Platte County 3, William Chrisman 0

The Pirates improved to 4-0 in Suburban Conference White Division play with a road shutout last week in Independence.

Nichols scored twice – once in the final minute of the first half on an assist from Currence and again in the 66th minute on a penalty kick — to lead the way for Platte County on offense, while Hedrick recorded three saves in just the third cleansheet of the season. He helped the Pirates maintain a 1-0 lead for most of the second half before Cordova used a breakaway to increase the lead to 2-0 in the 62nd minute.

Platte County had been away from conference action for nine days before the win over William Chrisman and returns to White Division action Monday at Belton.