P.K. Yonge’s bid for a fifth straight regional final appearance ended on Monday night in Jacksonville.
Host and No. 2 seed Episcopal scored the game-winning goal 20 minutes into the match and defeated the No. 3 seed Lady Blue Wave, 2-0, in an FHSAA Class 2A-Region 1 Semifinal.
It was the second straight year that they lost to Episcopal in the postseason.
Last year in the region final, the Class 2A state runner-up Eagles (15-4) outscored PKY, 4-2, in penalty kicks after two 10-minute overtime periods with the score still tied at 1-1.
“I thought tonight’s game was pretty physical, but I think that’s what you get when you get to the higher levels and further down the road in the playoffs, so we expected it,” said P.K. Yonge coach Rebecca Schackow. “You can only do so much against it to. You have to still play hard and go up against it as much as you can, but we expected it to be a physical, aggressive game.”
The physical game included a few yellow cards and a red card against Episcopal.
“They’re very fast,” said senior Paulina Cervantes, who will join her twin sister, Ellie, at Columbus State University next season. “We weren’t necessarily used to all that pushing, all that tackling, but you have just got to work through it. Some teams are like that. You just got to keep going, push through that.”
Episcopal sophomore Ashten Wolff scored from just inside the box about 15 yards out for a 1-0 lead with 20:04 remaining in the opening half.
That was the only scoring in the first half.
The Eagles caught a break when the ball deflected off a P.K. Yonge player for another score 11 minutes into the second half.
“I got a hand on it to get it out, but there was a small deflection from one of our back lines, from one of our midfielders, and it bounced off of her into the goal, just unlucky,” said PKY senior goalkeeper Norah Pancoast.
Schackow said that “Episcopal is very good at their set pieces.”
“They execute them well, and so we were hoping to be able to defend it and anticipate what was going to happen and not let them score on one,” she said. ” So that part of it is disappointing, just because we know how good they are at them, and we wanted to shut them out.”
Pancoast did her best to keep the Lady Blue Wave in the game, including a save that led to a yellow card on a shot on goal by Episcopal with almost 26 minutes remaining in the match.
“I went out and grabbed the ball, and I had it between my legs, and then put my hands on it immediately,” Pancoast explained. “But they kept going for it and kept kicking, so after talking to the ref, he made the decision to give her a yellow because you’re not allowed to touch the keeper once they have possession.”
Because of the Eagles’ speed, it made it a little more difficult for P.K. Yonge to stay in attack mode.
“Our roster is growing, and we are rebuilding, so we are strong in some areas, but when you have to adjust to defend a little bit more with these fast, talented teams, that takes away from our attack,” Schackow said. “We’re always shuffling players here and there to see, can we get away with an attack without losing too much of a strong defense.”
P.K. Yonge played with three 7th-graders and a sixth grader.
“I’m really proud of the way this team played,” Pancoast said. “We have three middle schoolers who played over 30 minutes. They’re 12 and 11 years old, I could not be prouder of them. I think it wouldn’t necessarily show with our record this year, but we have been through everything you can imagine, and we just keep going.”
That’s something that Schackow was proud of too.
“The courage it takes for that age player to get out there in a regional semifinal game and play with heart and courage and not be intimidated by our opponent, is pretty impressive,” she said. “I turned to our assistant coaches on the bench and I’m like, ‘look at that, you guys. There are four middle schoolers on the field right now.’ Now, do I want a whole field of juniors and seniors? Absolutely, because it’s so fun to create when they all have that same amount of experience…we’re a ways from that but the future is bright…they really inspired me.”
Meanwhile, it marked the end of a great career for eight seniors, just over half of whom were starters.
“All of our starting seniors started with the program back when they were in eighth and ninth grade, so I’ve gotten to know all of them very well,” Schackow said. “Their families are very committed to our program and pour in and make everything so special. And then those players are so hard working and committed to our program, so you never replace anyone, of course, but it is going to be hard to fill in those gaps immediately, because they’re just going to leave such big holes.”
The loss ended PKY’s season at 11-5-3, which included the school’s seventh straight district title.
“Our goal was to win districts, and we did that, and I’m so happy we did that,” Cervantes said. “We made it as far as we could, and I’m just so proud of everybody on this team.”
Despite enduring the most injuries they’ve had in a long time, Schackow said they overcame it through “grit, determination, and togetherness.”
“I am so proud that our team was able to make it to the regional semifinals again,” she said. “I really didn’t doubt that we could at the beginning of the season, but I did wonder because of the challenges and adversity we faced with injuries all season long, and yet the core group kept rallying and hanging in there and pulling through and finding ways to bring out other sides of play out of each other. Just like the young players impressed me, our core group impressed me that they just hung in there and still made great things happen. I mean, it’s amazing.”
Although it will be the last time Pancoast will put on a PKY uniform, she is committed to play at Division-I Rider University in New Jersey.
“These past five years have been nothing short of just the best,” Pancoast said. “Everybody on this team has made every minute on this field worth playing, and I really can’t be prouder of what we’ve been able to do and what they’re going to continue to do next year.”