LHS seniors come together with coach Matt Anderson following their 2-0 loss to Washburn Rural on Thursday in Topeka.

Topeka ? One of these years, Lawrence High will make its first appearance in the Class 6A state girls soccer tournament.

To do it, however, the Lions probably will have to find some way to knock off Washburn Rural, the school that has become their perennial regional nemesis.

For the third straight year, Rural denied the Lions a state trip, this time with a 2-0 triumph Thursday evening at the Junior Blues’ artificial-turf field.

“I wish we could play them over and over, and maybe we’d finally get them,” Lions’ goalie Emma Lumpe said.

Lumpe and the four other seniors on the roster won’t have that chance, but nothing lasts forever, and perhaps some day the Lions will cross the Rural barrier.

“It’s frustrating,” said Stef Stuever, another senior, “but I imagine our team will meet them again next year, and I hope it will go the other way.”

First, though, the Lions will have to find a way to score because Rural beat the Lions by identical 1-0 scores in both 2007 and 2008.

“They play a really deep defense and don’t trap like we do,” Stuever said. “So we had a hard time in transition. And we had a couple of little breakdowns.”

The first slip-up occurred in the 56th minute when a weak Lawrence clearing pass across the goal mouth was popped into the net from about seven yards out by Rural’s Sarah Hayden, who was wide-open for the easy shot.

“All we had was one missed assignment, one defensive breakdown,” Lions coach Matt Anderson said. “Then it’s easy to apply pressure when you’re ahead, 1-0.”

Rural applied the clincher with 3:42 remaining when Hilary Johnson drilled a dead-on 25-footer over Lumpe, who was on the ground scrambling for a loose ball that eluded her grasp.

On the positive side, the Lions finished with an 8-8 record after going 8-10 last season and 5-9-2 the year before. Meanwhile, Rural (15-3) is headed once again for the 6A state meet.

“It’s gut-wrenching,” Anderson said of the Lions’ three-year dry spell against Rural. “At this point, it’s very frustrating. We feel we have just as much talent as they do, if not more.”

Will the Lions get another shot at Rural next year?

“I’m assuming we will as long as the regionals stay the same,” Anderson said. “They lose nine or 10 seniors, but they have great coaching and a great system going for them.”