photo by: Conner Becker/Journal-World

The Lawrence High girls soccer team celebrates after topping Free State in the 2023 City Showdown. LHS rallied back to a 2-1 victory after trailing for nearly the entire match.

With two thrilling goals in the final 10 minutes, Lawrence High girls soccer got its first win of the season — and City Showdown bragging rights — by beating crosstown rival Free State 2-1 on Thursday.

For the bulk of the game, the Lady Lions were playing from behind. But when it really counted, they managed to pull off the game-clinching scores: one each from freshmen Erin Derby and Elise Lawrence.

LHS coach Joe Comparato said a win like Thursday’s tells more than the team’s 1-12 record shows.

“This shows what we’ve got in the tank going forward,” Comparato said.

And for Lawrence, who scored the game-winning goal with four minutes remaining, the fact that it happened in front of a packed home crowd made the victory even sweeter.

“We’re trying to build the program up to be more relevant, and this is one of the ways to do it,” she said. “We advertise, post ‘hey come out and support,’ and people showed up.”

Both teams came out of the kickoff hot, but Free State (1-13) got the first two looks at the goal on missed shot attempts by sophomore midfielder Neylana Haque at the 33-minute mark and junior forward Kate Foust at the 30-minute mark.

Keeping up the pressure, Foust set up a corner kick for the Lady Firebirds and laced a kick just past LHS senior keeper Cree Stewart for a score. Just moments later, Free State challenged Stewart again on a shot by freshman midfielder Aleia Kemp placed just above the crossbar.

LHS junior forward Rai’Onna Helm got the first shot off for the Lady Lions, sailing just right of the goal, with 15 minutes still to go in the first period. Free State gave up another shot attempt, this time by LHS junior midfielder Emily Aldridge, just five minutes later.

Free State, firing off multiple shots late in the first period, failed to find the net against Stewart. LHS also got some help from junior defender Ivori Jones. She broke up a critical corner kick by the Lady Firebirds, who were still ahead 1-0 with eight minutes left in the first period.

“It takes them a while to get going, but I’m just really proud of how resilient (the defense) was tonight and kept working,” Comparato said.

The second period started off shaky for the LHS defense. Free State pressured the Lady Lions across the field, with junior midfielder Shelby Roberts rocketing an open shot just off the crossbar. Woods threatened to set up another score for Free State, finding some green with 25 minutes still to play, but LHS junior defender Angela Braden blocked her cross attempt.

Holding the line behind Stewart, the Lady Lions then became the aggressor, pushing the ball upfield late in the game. With seven minutes left, LHS tied the match at 1-1 on a double assist by Helm and sophomore midfielder Giova Rubenstein to Derby. Derby found just the right window to pull off the shot.

Not settling for the tie, LHS set its sights on the game-winning shot. When a miscommunication disabled two Free State defenders, Lawrence attacked the ball, fired off the shot and looked up to find the ball had sailed by Free State keeper Merrit Hale with just four minutes remaining in the match.

“Joe told us to take as many shots as we could, and we’ve been practicing outside of the (18-feet mark), so I just took it and didn’t expect it to go in,” Lawrence said.

Up next, Free State travels to Shawnee Mission Northwest on May 9. LHS hosts Shawnee Mission East on May 9.

BOX SCORE:

Free State 1 0 – 1

Lawrence 0 2 – 2

Goals: Foust (LFS); E. Derby (LHS); Lawrence (LHS).