photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Gavin Hayes gains possession of the ball in a home match against Mill Valley on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Lawrence. Lawrence fought through a first-half goal for the Jaguars with a game-tying goal from Jackson Raney in the second half. After the Tigers scored again, Oscar Paden tied it up at 2-2 midway through the second half. With less than 10 seconds left in overtime, Gavin Hayes got a header goal off a corner kick to lift the Lions to a 3-2 win.

It’s tough to score in a soccer overtime. One goal ends it, and teams are just as cautious of giving up the game-winning goal as they are looking for the winning opportunity.

It took 9 minutes, 53 seconds of overtime for the best scoring opportunity to appear for Lawrence boys soccer, and as the team set up its corner kick, Senior Gavin Hayes knew it had to be him, and it had to be there.

“I told myself, ‘I haven’t gotten one all game, this has to be mine,'” Hayes said. “That was the only thing going through my brain.”

Hayes’s header passed the goalkeeper’s extended arms to hit the back of the net and secure Lawrence’s 3-2 overtime win over Mill Valley on Tuesday, moving the Lions to 4-1 on the season.

Lawrence faced two one-goal deficits against Mill Valley, but the Lions’ resiliency shone through in the 3-2 overtime win.

“They just play their hearts out,” Lawrence coach Joe Comparato said. “(Mill Valley) was a great team. But from front to back, side to side, everybody did what they were supposed to, and when it came to it, they got the goal.”

The Lions started with more pressure on the Jaguars, including a shot on goal from senior Oscar Paden from the penalty area in the 10th minute of the match. Junior Joe Catlin put another shot on goal later in the half, but the Lawrence offense got off to a slow start with an inability to finish plays.

“We have one of the best offenses in the league, if we can start finishing all of us,” Hayes said. “We have our moments individually, but if we can get all of us in a groove, it’s going to be electric.”

Mill Valley took advantage of a defensive miscommunication to score the first goal of the night in the 24th minute, and Lawrence was unable to answer during the remainder of the first half.

Lawrence continued to have opportunities at the start of the first half, and junior Jackson Raney cashed one in on a pass into the penalty area, where he bounced the ball over the last defender and into the net to tie the game.

Lawrence’s lead didn’t last long. Five minutes after Raney’s goal, the Jaguars scored on a shot from junior Austin Brown, who put it in the net from beyond the corner of the penalty area.

The Lions kept the pressure up, and Paden made good on some of his earlier shots with the second game-tying goal of the night, extending his body to gain possession of the ball then shooting it to the bottom left corner of the net.

“That’s our best attribute — that’s what makes us Lawrence High School,” Hayes said of the resiliency. “We fight no matter what. When we’re down, when we’re up, we continue to fight. That’s why we win games.”

A scoreless 23 minutes set the match up for overtime, which nearly went scoreless as well. But with everything on the line when the team needed it most, the Lions got it done off the dome of Hayes.

The Lions have a large number of returners, but the team is still figuring out what the 2026 version of the team plays and looks like. But with wins starting to rack up and goals coming together, the Lions are figuring out how to win as a group. Hayes said it has taken time to build the trust among the team, which is a factor as to why some of the finishes haven’t worked, but that the team is making progress and improving while continuing to fight hard until the end.

“They’re starting to play like a team,” Comparato said. “We’re starting to gain some momentum when we need it. We still have a rough stretch ahead of us with some good games, but we’ll take it one game at a time.”

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence freshman Brock White gets ready for the corner kick in a home match against Mill Valley on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Lawrence.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence junior Jackson Raney defends the ball in a home match against Mill Valley on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Lawrence.