Last year, the P.K. Yonge girls soccer team won its sixth straight district championship with a dominating 7-0 win against Newberry in the 2A-District 3 championship game.

But PKY’s Faith Hardy, who had a hat trick in that game, signed with Palm Beach Atlantic University, and the Lady Blue Wave lost several first team All Area selections to graduation.

Still, the six-time defending champions had some key returnees and were ranked No. 1 in the district in the FHSAA rankings heading into Friday night’s key district matchup.

Each team scored a goal, P.K. Yonge (7-3-2, 1-0-1) in the first half and Newberry in the second half, and the game between the Blue Wave and the Panthers ended in a tie.

P.K. Yonge had eight shots on goal but only landed one goal.

“I don’t know that that was our best game, but best effort always,” said P.K. Yonge coach Rebecca Schackow. “The girls give their best effort. I don’t know that that was the best we’ve looked, but we are coming off of an almost three-week break. That was our first game back (since Dec. 18).” 

Newberry coach Ashley Arnold told her young team after the game that it was their best outing of the season.

“PK is always going to be a tough opponent,” she said. “For us to kind of come out and go down quick, and then to be able to fight back and get a goal, that’s just exciting. That’s just a testament to how hard these girls have worked.”

P.K. Yonge senior Paulina Cervantes, who is a Columbus State University signee along with her twin sister, Ellie, scored the opening goal 11 minutes in, losing her cleat in the process.

“Ryleigh (Luca) headed it across as an assist to her, and then she buried it in the back of the net,” Schackow said.

Senior Peyton Cremeans tied it up for Newberry (15-1-2, 2-0-1) at 1-1 on a header off a corner kick from junior Avery Kinsey just under 12 minutes into the second half.

P.K. Yonge 9, Newberry 1 (BOYS) 

Cooper Schackow, the son of P.K. Yonge girls soccer coach Rebecca Schackow, had a hat trick as the boys team rolled to a 9-1 district win.

“I was doing a lot more dribbling than I usually do,” said Schackow, who ran his goals for the season to 13. “Usually, I just pass the ball and try to make plays, but I think I tried to dribble more and make plays myself, and that’s why I had three goals.”

His first goal was perfectly placed into the left upper corner of the net, just over the outstretched hand of Newberry senior goalkeeper Cayden Francis.

“That one I was just kind of like…I don’t know, it just kind of curved right in,” Schackow said. “I was kind of surprised I made it.”

His second goal, which proved to be the game-winner, came just under three minutes later as Francis came out to defend and Schackow gave the Blue Wave a 2-0 lead.

“I like, hit it with the side of my foot,” he said. “That was a hard one.”

His third goal, the final goal of the game by the Blue Wave, stopped the match with over five minutes of regulation time remaining.

“Cooper is one of the players I admire the most because his work rate is just impressive,” said P.K. Yonge boys coach Jose De Leon. “If you notice throughout the game, when we put the ball in the box and where there is a cross, who was there? Cooper. Every single time Cooper was there. I really have to appreciate it because position-wise, he knows where he has to be, and he has a good shot.”

Newberry’s only goal came from senior Lucas Nowels, who knocked in his team-leading 17^th goal of the season.

Less than five minutes into the match, Nowels almost gave the Panthers an early lead, but his shot on goal hit the top of the crossbar.

P.K. Yonge (13-3-2, 2-0), which had a 3-1 lead at the half, outscored Newberry, 6-0, in the second half.

“I think it all started in the midfield, which is really important,” Schackow said. “Most of our balls were from the through balls, and then we got crosses, and that’s how we scored nine.”

Senior Blake Firsching started the scoring in the second half, almost 12 minutes in. He was one of six different players to score on the night for P.K. Yonge.

“Many of them were involved in the play,” De Leon said. “If you look at the guy that did the first pass, the guy that did the assist, who was up there? So, it was the goal, but it was also who was available to score. It was goals on the run, it was goals like controlling the ball, turning and cutting, so it was different ways of scoring which gives me options in tight games.”

Newberry (10-7-1, 1-2) will travel to Williston at 7 p.m. on Monday, while P.K. Yonge will host Trinity Catholic (Ocala) at 5:30 p.m.