Flynn nets first career goal to lift Golden Hawks over Demons in shootout spectacular
She looked up and watched the final kick sail over the crossbar. After a moment’s hesitation, Helmuth rushed to her teammates in celebration. With four saves to one goal on seven shots, she’d pushed the Golden Hawks on to the regional semifinals.
“Honestly, I lost track of how many we were at, so I didn’t really know where we were, but once I figured out [we had won], it was so exciting,” Helmuth said.
After 100 minutes of scoreless soccer, Mid-Prairie defeated Washington on penalty kicks to secure their first win over the Demons since 2022.
Both teams had their chances during regulation, the nearest miss coming off the foot of senior Meadow Flynn, who missed inches wide of the goal five minutes into the second half, but the defenses held strong to maintain the 0-0 tie to the bitter end.
Meadow was the first to step to the spot during penalty kicks. After missing her opportunity in regulation, she drilled the ball into the back of the net to give Mid-Prairie an early 1-0 lead.
“I just knew I wanted to do as best as I could for my team, not just for myself, and for everyone in the stands that came out to support us,” Meadow said
The next two shots missed wide, setting up Washington senior Maya Bruty to tie the game. The next four shooters on both sides missed, with each of Washington’s shots being on net and forcing Helmuth to make a save.
On Mid-Prairie’s seventh kick, Mid-Prairie head coach Truman Shetler turned to Lily Flynn, a junior without a goal in her career.
“Originally, I was nervous, I was thinking ‘Maybe I don’t have to kick,’” Lily said. “Then I was up, and I just had to go to my spot in the corner.”
The junior took a deep breath and a single step before launching the ball off of her right foot and into the back of the net. 2-1 Golden Hawks.
“It took a minute to register, and I’m like, “Wait, we could win.’”
Shetler said he and his staff had full confidence in the junior despite her never scoring in a varsity match before Thursday.
“Lily being able to stay focused, not playing a single minute of the game, to be able to step up with confidence and knock it in, hit her spot, we knew that she was one of our better PK takers,” Shetler said. “We knew it and had confidence in her going out there, and she was able to capitalize.”
Helmuth stepped back into the net expecting to need one last save, but the shot went high. Game over. Mid-Prairie had survived and advanced.
The win was Shetler’s first victory over the Demons at the head of the program and the first win for any players in the program over their county rivals. They lost their first matchup of the season to the Demons 2-1 without Helmuth, who was competing at the state qualifying track meet for Hillcrest with the Ravens’ eventual state-winning 4×100 meter relay team.
“I know [my teammates] were not too happy about losing the first time, and they had a lot of energy coming into this,” Helmuth said. “I think that energy transferred to me even though I wasn’t there, and we did it. We got the win.”
The Golden Hawks now look to accomplish an even more unprecedented feat next Tuesday, as they travel to Iowa City to take on the Regina Regals, a team that Mid-Prairie hasn’t beat in the Bound era, which tracks results as far back as 2011. Regina beat Mid-Prairie 5-2 earlier this year.
The regional semifinal is set to kick off on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Iowa City Regina High School.