Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls soccer survives Xavier challenge in penalty kicks

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids Kennedy junior goalkeeper Olivia Weigel had never been in a PK shootout before last night's game against Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Asked if her coach gave her any tips before the do-or-die conclusion of the game, she shrugged and said, 'No.”

Apparently she needed no advice as she saved two of the four PKs on frame and the Cougars escaped with a 2-1 (3-2PK) victory. The victory left 3A No. 5 Kennedy (7-1, 8-2) just one game behind Iowa City West in the MVC's Valley division.

Weigel's last save came against Xavier's Lizzy Bailey, the fifth Saints shooter. Weigel stretched her left leg out and blocked the low smash.

'It's a lot of pressure,” she said. 'I wasn't really expecting that to happen. I thought it was going to the corner. I kind of just put my leg out there and luckily I was diving that way.”

Xavier's Elizabeth Fischer and McKenna Lloyd made their PKs as did Kennedy's Abby Hellweg, Anna Frerichs and Weigel.

The Saints' keeper, Melody Snow, and her back line were very good throughout the game despite heavy pressure from Kennedy.

'They were certainly ready for our forward runs,” Weigel said. 'They came prepared.”

Xavier (4-4, 4-5) scored first in the 44th minute on a goal from Addy Hoffman off a perfect pass from Sydney Wright.

'I actually thought I was offsides, and I was so mad that I was offside on such a great play that I hit it as hard as I could,” Hoffman said. 'They didn't call it so I was like ‘All right. We'll take it.'”

The Saints' attack has improved tremendously in the last month.

'At practice we're really working on that and we've become a strong team that's able to switch fields and work it in the middle,” Hoffman said.

'They made it challenging tonight,” Kennedy Coach Scott Myers said. 'They defended very well. They made us work.”

Kennedy got the equalizer in the 68th minute after several furious attacks when freshman Olivia Hellweg scored on an Alyssa Drewelow assist.