Cathedral High School entered Tuesday’s Division III girls soccer playoff match against Park Place Christian ranked as a No. 1 seed while the Lady Crusaders were a No. 2 seed.

On Tuesday evening, Park Place Christian looked like the higher-seeded team.
The Lady Crusaders dictated action from start to finish, pouring in two first-half goals en route to slipping past the Lady Greenwave 2-0.

“That’s a quality team,” Cathedral coach Dennis Hogue said. “Everyone’s touches were crisp, sharp. They’re better at picking balls out of the air, stuff like that, technical stuff.”
Park Place Christian advances to the second round of the playoffs, while Cathedral’s season comes to a close.

The win marked the second straight season the Lady Greenwave’s season ended at the hands of the Lady Crusaders as they fell 5-1 in an opening round playoff match a year ago.

“We knew coming in that they were a quality team,” Cathedral coach Dennis Hogue said. “Last year the result was 5-1 (Park Place). It was 5-0 at the half, and we shut them down … kind of a similar game. But we looked much better (Tuesday).”

Alexis Knott got Park Place on the board approximately 5 minutes in, and her sister Ariel Knott followed it up with a score in the 30th minute.

The Lady Crusaders executed with precision in every phase. Park Place delivered strong crosses and corners into the box, executed free kicks and shut down any semblance of a Lady Greenwave attack.

“They have a large group of players to select from,” Hogue said. “His group is a tryout squad … We have a lot of talent on the field, everyone of these girls would have made the tryout. We have a smaller pool to select from.”

Despite surrendering the two goals, Cathedral goalkeeper Sydney Jackson was a standout performer as she racked up seven saves in the contest.

“Sydney played out of her mind,” Hogue said. “She missed one shot, she was just too short. She had some ups, but it was just a well-placed ball. Nothing you can do about that.”
Tuesday’s match was the last for 10 seniors for Cathedral, and Hogue said he couldn’t be more proud of the group.

“They set goals, and they met every goal,” Hogue said. “They wanted to go undefeated in district, and we did that.”