Kickapoo scored twice in the first two minutes, led 5-0 at halftime and ended Republic’s season with a 6-2 win in the district quarterfinals.
Kickapoo, the fourth seed, added a third goal 4:33 into the match. Fifth-seeded Republic steadied in the second half. Andie Wistrom scored with 30:33 remaining after a hard shot from Christiane Ulsund created the chance. Ava Woolley curled a corner kick into the net with 21:08 left to pull within three.
Republic created more chances but couldn’t close the gap. A Kickapoo breakaway in the final minutes accounted for the final margin.
“I honestly could not tell you what happened,” coach Jesus Zuniga said of the opening minutes. He said Kickapoo’s team speed on the turf may have caught some of Republic’s players off guard early after they had played on grass two weeks ago. “We don’t want to make any excuses, but was it the big stage that scared some of these kids who were new to the varsity level this year? I think some of them just didn’t expect it,” Zuniga said of the early trouble.
“That’s a great team, so we knew we were gonna have our hands full,” Zuniga said. “[Imagine] had we started the game the way we played that second half. They got that goal at the very end, but other than that it was a 2-0 half. The pace they started, they could have easily mercy-ruled us. Our girls have some heart.”
Republic finishes the season 15-10 with 10 shutouts. The match was the final one for nine seniors: Jaclyn Wade, Christiane Ulsund, Macey Mitchell, Jadyn Kirk, Emma Hoodenpyle, Paige Elsenraat, Bria Claxton, Awbree Berning and Shelby Bennett.
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