OMAHA — The Lincoln East girls soccer team only finished in third place in the expanded Heartland Athletic Conference this season, but the Spartans kept getting better and are now one of the final four girls teams left playing this season in Class A.
The fifth-ranked Spartans will play No. 1 Millard West in the Class A state semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday. No. 2 Omaha Marian and No. 7 Gretna face off in the second semifinal.
Lincoln East beat Papillion-La Vista 1-0 in the first round of state on Thursday, with sophomore Beth Guevara scoring the winning goal with just 2 minutes, 46 seconds left in the match.
East (14-3) had a good but not great regular season because it lost against two of its biggest rivals, Lincoln Southwest and Lincoln Southeast.
People are also reading…
And the Spartans also lost to Kearney, giving them two losses against teams that didn’t make state. The HAC added Kearney, Norfolk and Lincoln Pius X this season and played 10 regular-season matches to determine the conference champion. East finished third in the standings with a 7-3 record, behind Lincoln Southeast and Lincoln Southwest at 9-1
But a young team with just four seniors kept getting better, and the players didn’t let the losses crush them.
“I’m not the yelling, screaming kind of guy,†said Chuck Morgan, the Spartans’ 16th-year head coach. “We lost to Southwest, we lost to Southeast, we lost to Kearney. I said, ‘OK, everything in winning and losing is a learning experience, so what did we learn from this?’ So we talked about it and self-evaluated, and the girls took ownership of it.â€
Sophomore forward Briley Hill leads East with 16 goals, and senior midfielder Josie Arduser has 15 goals. Sophomore midfielder and Nebraska soccer recruit Haley Peterson has nine goals and two assists.
East last made it to the state semifinals during its 2006 state runner-up season.
Now the Spartans face a considerable challenge against Millard West (16-1), which crushed Omaha Westside 8-1 on Thursday.
“Oh, let’s see, they score about 100 goals a game,†said Morgan of the challenges of playing Millard West. “They seem to be able to score from everywhere they want to. They’re just an all-around good team. They’re well-coached. They have tremendous athletes.â€
Millard West’s attack includes three players with at least 15 goals. Reagan Raabe has 21, Katie Stoneburner has 18 and Chaise Pfanstiel has 17. Raabe and Stoneburner are also Nebraska recruits.
Still, Morgan will let the East players know they’ve earned the right to play here, and play well.
“We’re not here on a fluke,†Morgan said. “We’ve beaten some good teams this year, and the girls have worked hard for it. We respect Millard West a great deal, but we want to show we’re a contender, too.â€
Millard West and East haven’t played at state since the 2006 semifinals.