Cair Paravel soccer gets their 'revenge', Washburn Rural makes 10th straight final four

TOPEKA — The state soccer playoffs continued on Tuesday with the state quarterfinals.

Four Topeka-area teams were alive, until the end of the day where two still remain. After Tuesday’s successful night, Cair Paravel and Washburn Rural are ready to make their mark on the final four.

Cair Paravel advances to final four

The excitement filled the faces of Cair Paravel’s players, coaches and parents when the final horn blared. The Lions (14-4-1) defeated Baldwin 6-1 in the Class 4-1A State Quarterfinals.

Two years ago, the Lions also qualified for the final four. They were simply happy to be there and excited to put their school on the map.

This year, they want more. The job isn’t complete for Cair Paravel.

“We are excited to be back. We missed it last year and we wanted that revenge and we got it,” Cair Paravel’s Katherine Keys said. “I am super proud of all of the hard work that we put in. Our team is awesome, we have that depth and we have that talent.”

There were smiles across everyone’s faces at the final whistle and practically at the first whistle, too. Cair Paravel scored within the first 20 seconds of action thanks to Zahra Friess. Cair Paravel huffed a long ball to their speedster who calmly tucked the ball away surprising Baldwin.

This marks back-to-back games that Cair Paravel has scored inside the first minute of play. This hasn’t been a surprise to head coach Doug Woolery, this is simply his tactics.

“About five games ago, I said, ‘Let’s take advantage of our speed up top,’” Woolery said. “We have a lot of it up there. Zahra Friess is incredibly fast. I said, ‘Let’s put the ball down to the flag and let her beat them to it.’ It’s just worked great. She’s managed to score a couple of goals off of it.”

Simple passing, turning with the ball and making intelligent runs are trademarks of Woolery’s team. He wants the Lions with possession and making short passes that lead to easy dissection of an opposing defense.

His team did that to perfect following the opening goal. KellyAnn Chada scored three goals including a golazo from the right wing that looped over the goalkeeper’s head. She threw her arms into the air in shock, everything was going Cair Paravel’s way.

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Friess added a second goal as she sprinted around the opposing right-back. She drilled a ball across the goal that deflected off of the keeper and into the net. Keys — who is going to play college soccer at John Brown University — also joined in on the fun with a goal and two assists.

In a team that feeds off of unselfish play, Keys is the catalyst. She is the engine that makes the Lions go. According to Woolery, Chada enjoys scoring the goals, but it is Keys’ love of assist-making that helps the team operate.

“Who Katherine is as a human probably speaks volumes for why she is such a great soccer player,” Woolery said. “She is a selfless individual who puts others first. You see that a lot in the decisions that she makes with the ball at her feet. She is quick to give it to her teammates.”

Baldwin scored their lone goal in the final minute of play as Cair Paravel couldn’t hold on to the clean sheet. It didn’t matter, the Lions punched their ticket to the Class 4-1A State Semifinals.

Cair Paravel will face McPherson (13-5-1) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The Class 4-1A State Semifinal and Championship is hosted by the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita. If the Lions can advance, the daunted Bishop Miege will mostly likely wait for them in Saturday’s title game.

Bishop Miege has won seven straight state championships. That mark doesn’t scare Keys, she shared that their earlier meeting with Bishop Miege has only delivered the Lions more confidence. The Stags defeated Cair Paravel narrowly by a score of 2-1 in early April.

“That was a real encouragement that we can do it and we have the capabilities to face these hard teams,” Keys said.

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Washburn Rural marks 10th straight trip to state semifinal

The Junior Blues defeated Lawrence Free State 4-0 to advance to the Class 6A State Semifinals. This is the 10th straight season that Washburn Rural has advanced to the final four.

The game featured another hat trick from Kate Hinck. The junior forward is in form as she has scored seven goals in the last two games. Destiny Higgs’ first half goal was a big highlight. She drilled a shot from outside of the box that rippled the back of the net.

Washburn Rural (16-3) will face Blue Valley Northwest (13-5-1) in the semifinals at Hummer Sports Park on Friday at 4 p.m. This is the first meeting between the two clubs this season.

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Seaman, Shawnee Heights’ seasons end in quarterfinals

The season came to an end for Seaman and Shawnee Heights in the Class 5A State Quarterfinals. The Vikings lost 7-0 to Blue Valley Southwest. St. Thomas Aquinas defeated the Thunderbirds 8-0.

Shawnee Heights ends the season with a 13-6 record. Seaman’s year concluded with a 12-5-1 record.

Liam Keating covers high school sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Cair Paravel, Washburn Rural soccer advance to state semifinal