Lawrence HIgh junior Quentin Harrington (#6) runs after the ball in the first half against Shawnee Heights in the LHS boys soccer team's Senior Night on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016.

With about 12 minutes left in the match Thursday, Lawrence High boys soccer coach Mike Murphy decided to make a tweak that could have changed the course of the season.

Murphy took a moment and spoke with junior Quentin Harrington before moving him toward the middle of the field for the remainder of the game, hoping it would get the Lions on the scoreboard.

Less than seven minutes later the move paid off as Harrington lofted a shot from the top of the box. The ball then soared past the outstretched arms of Shawnee Heights’ goalkeeper Tyler Zentner to give LHS the lead in the team’s eventual 1-0 win on Senior Night at home.

“What a beautiful shot by Quentin to get that in,” Murphy said. “That’s a fantastic goalkeeper. He’s legit college material. To slip one past him, we knew it was going to be tough night. We will take what we got.”

With the win, Lawrence completed a winning record on the year, posting an 8-7-1 record in the regular season.

The Lions are expected to have a chance to host a playoff game in the first round, but it will likely be decided by coin flip after recording the same win percentage as Kansas City (Kan.) Wyandotte, the team’s expected first-round opponent in the playoffs.

“We will see how that goes,” Murphy said. “It would be beautiful to host a playoff game. That was one of our goals going into the season. That way we can set ourselves up for a regional championship, no matter who we play.”

Due to playoff implications, Murphy had the tough duties of trying to balance getting his seniors in as much as possible while going for the victory.

“We had to play seniors and we had to get a win,” Murphy said. “They did it. We have had some tight games that haven’t come out our way. This was great.”

It was a junior who made the key play to break the deadlock.

Senior Ebrahim Diagne hit Harrington over the middle of the field on a breakaway. Harrington faked as if he was going to pass to senior forward Cain Scott, before hitting a high shot towards the goal. As the ball hit the back of the net, Harrington was mobbed by his teammates.

It was a play that LHS senior goalkeeper Apramay Mishra had seen too many times.

“He does that kind of thing all the time in practice,” Mishra said. “He takes those shots on me. So I was expecting it, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so beautiful. I’d like to say I get the better of him in practice but I bet he does. He’s a great player.”

Because the Thunderbirds were so good in the net, the Lions’ defense had to do its part to clinch the win in the regular-season finale.

Shawnee Heights took nine shots on goal on the night compared to Lawrence’s 17.

However, not too many of the Thunderbirds shots were easy ones thanks to the defensive effort by seniors Parker King and Charlie Carr along with junior DJ Davis, who all contributed to forcing difficult shots.

“We knew we weren’t going to be score as much as we normally do,” Mishra said. “So me and the back line, we just had to keep it tight. We just had to keep it a zero on the scoreboard and we did a great job of that.”

On the offensive end, Lawrence had multiple good looks throughout the match to break the drought.

Scott — who tied the single season record for goals with 16 earlier this week — had a number of chances to make school history. Instead, he missed good looks including a breakaway with 5:05 to go in the first half that was saved by Zentner.

“The kid had a one-handed save on that one,” Murphy said. “We probably didn’t get the ball to Cain quite as much as we need to.”

Lawrence will learn of its regional schedule Saturday.