Avila Drops Local Matchup with Park

PARKVILLE, Mo. – Despite strong goalkeeping throughout and solid team defense, Avila (0-4-0) was unable to prevent Park (2-0-0) from capitalizing on a couple of key opportunities, and, after a brief rally, the Eagles were unable to complete the comeback, leading the Pirates to a 3-1 win in their 2023 home opener on Wednesday night in Parkville.

For perhaps the first time in her tenure as Avila's head coach, Katie LaForge has a legitimate goalkeeping battle on her hands: incumbent Kenan Ebel and Johnson County transfer Olivia Seston have split the minutes evenly through the team's first four matches and both have played extremely well on the balance of the season, giving the Eagles a chance to compete all four times.

And that's exactly what happened on Wednesday as well. Seston got the start for the first 45 minutes against Park and turned in her best game of the season to date, turning aside six Pirate broadsides to keep the game scoreless heading into halftime. The Avila defense was credited with a pair of blocks in front of her as the whole team combined to keep the home team at bay.

Ebel then took over for the second half and played well in her own right, but the difference in the match was Park simply capitalized on more of its chances than Avila did, leading to a two-goal victory. The Pirates struck gold first when defender Chloe Tays cashed in from long distance less than five minutes into the second half, and about five minutes after that, the Pirates doubled their lead by intercepting a throw-in and converting on what was ultimately scored on own goal by the Eagles.

With more than half an hour still to play, the Eagles were facing the same situation they saw on Saturday in their previous game against Dordt: a 2-0 deficit in the second half. But just like they did in that game, the Eagles did not simply keel over – they fought back. Megan Nugent had a bid that clanged off the crossbar and Nikkole Wood had a try that was blocked, and moments later, those two combined for a chance that counted: Nugent delivered a corner kick that Wood redirected home for her first collegiate goal in the 65^th minute, and the Eagles had new life.

Ebel did her part by making a pair of saves in less than a minute before Park goalie Felicitas Mueller answered with one on the other end against Maddylen Farris with about five minutes left. The Eagles had one last gasp off another corner from Nugent, but that came to nothing, and as the final seconds ticked off the clock Patrycia Kozak got past the defense and scored a final goal, wrapping up a 3-1 victory for the Pirates at home.

Up next, Avila will take on another former Heart of America Conference opponent coming up on Wednesday, September 6, in Atchison, Kansas against Benedictine. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM; for details on how to watch and follow along, check out Avila Athletics on social media and the all-new avilaathletics.com.