Platte County went past 20 wins for a second straight year and finished No. 5 in the final Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association (MHSSCA) Class 3 rankings for a second straight year. In another unquestionably successful year, a loss in the District 8 championship ended the Pirates’ season at 22-4, and senior midfielder Riley Smith and senior forward Hannah Stone earned repeat all-state honors.
Smith appeared on the Class 3 MHSSCA first team for a second straight year, while Stone made the honorable mention list.
Platte County lost by a score of 1-0 three times this season to Smithville — the final time in the Class 3 District 8 finals. The Warriors went on to finish third in state.
For the second straight year, all of Platte County’s losses came in the only games when they didn’t score with Smith and Stone serving as the top options for a diverse offense featuring a unique mix of seniors and promising youth. The Pirates averaged 4.69 goals per game and totaled at least eight nine times.
Smith and Stone were two members of a unique six-player senior class that missed the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They played a big part in Platte County’s run to the Class 3 playoffs in 2021 that ended with a loss to Grain Valley in the state quarterfinals. The Pirates went 46-7 over the past two seasons.
Smith, a Missouri State signee who didn’t play for the Pirates as a freshman while focusing on club competition, continually provided offense in her two years as an attacking midfielder, totaling 38 goals and six assists in hr debut junior campaign. Stats for this season were not available.
Stone entered this season with a muscle injury that cost her some early games, including a 1-0 loss to Staley in the season-opening Platte County Invitational. She dealt with a nagging ankle injury as a junior but eventually finished with 10 goals and a team-high assists as a junior.
Following the loss to Staley, Platte County won eight straight before the first of Smithville’s two 1-0 wins that gave the Warriors an outright claim to this year’s Suburban Conference Blue Division title a year after the Pirates won their first league crown since 2009.
In between this year’s conference losses, Platte County came back from a goal down for a 3-2 victory in the North Kansas City Tournament championship game. The final 1-0 loss to Smithville kept the Pirates from a second straight district title after going without one from 2016 to 2021.
The finish also limited Platte County’s all-state potential to just two honorees.
In 2021, Paige Chase also made the honorable mention all-state list as a defensive midfielder and box-to-box contributor while tallying a goal and an assist. She played a big part this year in the Pirates’ 18 cleansheets with a somewhat inexperienced and reshuffled backline plus freshman goalkeeper Finley Kaser, who missed 3 1/2 games early in the season due to a concussion suffered in the loss to Staley.
Platte County allowed only nine goals total this season — five to Smithville — with a defensive lineup that included first-year starting senior Triton Davey and sophomore Alex Beeman in the middle and junior second-year starter Morgan Stewart at left back and junior Cosette Stephenson eventually winning the spot at right back.
POSTSEASON HONORS
ALL-SUBURBAN CONFERENCE BLUE DIVISION
First team
MF — Riley Smith, Sr.; Paige Chase, Sr. F — Lily Kytasaari, Fr. GK — Finley Kaser, Fr.
Second Team
MF — Addison Bradley, So. F — Hannah Stone, Sr. D — Triton Davey, Sr.; Alex Beeman, So.
Honorable Mention
MF — Sloan Kassen, Jr. D — Morgan Stewart, Jr.
MISSOURI HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER COACHES ASSOCIATION
ALL-CLASS 3 DISTRICT 8
First Team
MF — Riley Smith, Sr.; Paige Chase, Sr. F — Hannah Stone, Sr.
Second Team
MF — Addison Bradley, So. F — Lily Kytasaari, Fr. GK — Finley Kaser, Fr.
ALL-CLASS 3 REGION 4
MF — Riley Smith, Sr.; Paige Chase, Sr. F — Hannah Stone, Sr.
Player of the Year — Riley Smith, Sr.
CLASS 3 ALL-STATE
First Team
MF — Riley Smith, Sr.
Honorable Mention
Hannah Stone, Sr.
