Platte County’s 1st 2 wins of season come in dominant conference efforts

Platte County needed the results, regardless of the opponents. The Pirates opened Suburban Conference play with back-to-back dominant wins this past week, including an 8-1 triumph over visiting William Chrisman on Thursday at Pirate Stadium.

After suffering four straight losses to strong competition to open the season, Platte County remained committed to finding continuity for a roster replacing four key starters while many of the returners either have or were being considered for new roles. Eight different players scored in the past two games, including a pair of braces and four goals for junior forward Rylee Burris and three markers for junior midfielder, Lily Kytasaari, while the Pirates’ revamped defense recorded a second cleansheet of the season in a 7-0 shutout of Raytown in Tuesday’s road matchup.

“We were able to put more plays together and be more confident,” said Platte County senior midfielder Marissa Orellana, who scored her first goal of the season in the second half against William Chrisman after missing the first three games due to illness. “Honestly, when we play tougher teams, it’s kind of harder mentally (against teams like Raytown and William Chrisman), but it helps us practice making runs, passing to our feet when we have the chance to so we can apply that to harder games that we need to be more efficient.”

Platte County (2-4) put up at least one goal in three of the first four games and lost the other in a penalty shootout after a scoreless regulation in the seventh-place game of the season opening home tournament against Kearney. The Pirates were scheduled to open this week with a nonconference rematch of that virtual deadlock, only for inclement weather to force a postponement.

After dominating Raytown on Tuesday, Platte County continued the momentum against William Chrisman, and importantly, both matchups went the full 80 minutes and didn’t end early due to the eight-goal mercy rule.

“You want to win games,” Platte County coach Ashlyn Brantley said. “Just to see that we can score goals and create opportunities, it makes us feel good, but when we are going against those tougher teams, we’re right there in it, and it’s good to have that confidence and know we can play well and know what we need to do. We just have to finish.”

Against William Chrisman, Platte County led 5-0 at halftime with junior goalkeeper Finley Kaser making one save and then ceding her spot to sophomore Anna Wiesehan for the second half. She made a pair of saves. The Pirates were on the board after six minutes with freshman attacking midfielder Amela Dzilic, who quickly moved into the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the season-opener, continued her recent run of form with a goal Kytasaari set up.

Less than a minute later, Kytasaari scored on an assist from Orellana.

Platte County’s 2-0 lead held as the pressure stayed consistent. The Pirates finished with 19 shots on goal, and Burris scored the first of her two in the 20th minute, while senior reserve midfielder Addison Sloan opened her season account with two — one an assist from reserve sophomore Carissa Bacon in the 23rd minute and another in the 25th minute.

“I think they’re coming together, and they’re working together a lot better than they had been earlier on,” Brantley said. “Tonight, we did a lot better job on finishing.”

Up 5-0 at the break, Brantley liberally subbed in the second half, even providing some different looks on the back line after settling in on a preferred starting lineup from left to right of seniors Kaelyn Bellach and Alex Beeman and juniors Madison Palmer and Annabel Beeman.

Platte County stretched the lead to 6-0 on a well-struck, arcing left-footed shot from Burris that she hit from just outside the 18-yard box in the 54th minute. The seventh goal came from Orellana in a one-on-one situation in the 57th minute.

William Chrisman’s goalkeeper went low to smother the initial shot but allowed a rebound that Orellana poked into the open net.

“It feels nice because it needed to happen,” said Orellana, who started much of last season but also endured a back injury that cost her multiple games in her junior campaign.

Platte County did frustratingly allow a goal in the 67th minute off of a corner kick.

William Chrisman took the set piece quickly, and a shot from inside the box beat Wiesehan at the near post. However, the Pirates quickly recovered, and junior midfielder Brooklynne Jenni, who has taken the starting defensive midfielder spot with junior Giada Cucchiara still recovering from a torn ACL suffered late this past fall, blasted a shot from 25 yards out for the game’s final goal in the 75th minute.

Platte County didn’t hesitate to take strikes on goal, even from distance in the past two games and saw positive results.

“I feel like just taking shots overall is a good benefit anyway, so I feel like if we keep doing that, we’ll be more successful,” Orellana said.

Now on a winning streak, Platte County travels to Belton on Tuesday and then hosts Grain Valley this Thursday in a critical White Division matchup. The Eagles are off to a 7-3 start and also have two conference wins.

Platte County 7, Raytown 0

The Pirates didn’t allow a shot on goal in Tuesday’s shutout at Raytown High School.

Entering off of four straight losses, Platte County didn’t start the offense until 22 minutes in when Burris broke through and finished in a one-on-one situation. The Pirates were up 2-0 at halftime with the other goal coming from Kytasaari in the 24th minute when she finished into an open net with Raytown’s goalkeeper caught out of position in a scramble.

Platte County tallied five goals in the second half — one each from Bacon, Burris, Palmer, Jenni and Kytasaari. Bacon’s came on a followup of a save, while Palmer’s came from Jenni’s corner in the 69th minute. Jenni also showed off her ability on long-range shots in the 71st minute with a 25-yard scoring effort, and Kytasaari closed the scoring in the 80th minute off an assist from junior Hanna Letherman.

“We were kicking it to the keeper a lot; we weren’t finding those corners (of the goal),” Brantley said. “We were creating the opportunities, just weren’t finishing like we should.”