Stone’s hat trick leads Platte County to senior night win that avenges previous loss

The pattern looks strikingly familiar, but promisingly, the roster skews even younger this time around.

Platte County avenged a prior loss with an impressive and thoroughly dominating 4-1 victory in Thursday’s Suburban Conference White Division matchup at Pirate Stadium. After a slow start, the Pirates roll into the final week of the regular season winners in 10 of the past 12 overall with a chance to take developed momentum into Class 3 District 8 play.

A year ago, Platte County lost two of the first three but rolled to a 20-win season that ended one win shy of a playoff berth. The Pirates owned a 2-4 record following a loss to Fort Osage on April 7 but have now earned the No. 3 seed in a highly competitive district bracket after a week that included a key victory over Smithville.

The developmental processes have included successful fusions within a youthful lineup that often features only two senior starters — central defender Kaylee Dixon and midfielder Saige Dickens.

Platte County sophomore forward Addison Stone continues to establish an identity as the go-to scorer, completing a hat trick in the closing minutes against Fort Osage after the Indians pulled a goal back to briefly trim the deficit to 3-1. The Pirates bolted to a three-goal advantage with Stone and freshman midfielder Ella Miller accounting for those scores.

Stone scored her first just before halftime with four of the game’s five goals after the break.

Before the game, Platte County honored six seniors — a group that includes Dixon and Dickens plus Anna Wiesehan, Kiara Smith, Kyla Donley, Carissa Bacon, Teagan Hill and Sophie Lugo. Wiesehan, Smith and Donley have been key reserves, while Bacon has spent most of the season injured after not going out for soccer last season, while Hill and Lugo mostly play JV.

With the win over Fort Osage, Platte County improved to 9-3 in White Division play with winnable matchups at Ruskin (1-14) on Tuesday and vs. Belton on Thursday (3-13) left. The record includes a pair of losses to Grain Valley, the most recent a 1-0 defeat at Pirate Stadium this past Tuesday.

That came on the heels of Platte County’s 1-0 road victory at Smithville critical to the Class 3 District 8 seeding. Stone scored just before half on a breakaway with a goal that held up as the decider for the Pirates, who ended up with the No. 3 seed in Class 3 District 8 while the Warriors dropped to No. 4.

Platte County has now won four of the past five since a second loss of the season to Kearney in the championship game of the North Kansas City Invitational. Those victories gave the Bulldogs the No. 2 seed in districts.

After that second loss, Platte County blanked Truman 4-0 with freshman Kylie Hill and sophomore Harper Dudley combining for the minutes at goalkeeper and keeping the clean sheet. Miller scored on either side of halftime to put the Pirates up 2-0.

Platte County sophomore midfielder Katelyn Newberry and junior forward Macy Doll accounted for the final two goals. The Pirates then beat William Chrisman 6-2 with Stone scoring two of the goals in her eventual hat trick back-to-back in the 11th minute.

Dickens added a pair and two assists, one going to freshman midfielder Mary Dellinger in the 37th minute to put Platte County up 3-0. The Pirates went into the break up 4-0 when Dickens placed a shot from outside the box into the upper corner of the goal.

Those two White Division wins led into this past week’s busy slate against three teams with a winning record.

Platte County should have a strong opportunity to go into Class 3 District 8 play with a record of 14-6 before playing sixth-seeded William Chrisman (9-10-1) at Kearney on Saturday, May 16 in the first round. The winner likely advances to face Kearney (17-3) in the semifinals.

St. Pius X (16-2) owns the top seed in the bracket.

Kearney beat shorthanded Platte County 4-1 in the season-opening Platte County Invitational but the differential closed to 2-1 in the NKC Invitational. The Pirates lost to St. Pius X in last year’s Class 3 District 8 title game before graduating a large senior class that left open opportunity for this year’s roster, which regularly includes four freshman contributors in the field — Miller, Dellinger, Greta Espeer and Addison Linn.

Platte County’s backline includes Addison and Caroline Linn on the outside with Dixon and sophomore Emily Fadler in central defense. Miller and Dellinger often start with Espeer a key substitute in a midfield that also includes Dickens, Smith, Wiesehan and sophomore Ainsley Habel, while junior Amela Dzilic has become the top option to play up top alongside Stone.