The Westside varsity girls soccer team was on the outside looking in on the top ten in Class A wildcard points heading into their first district game of 2019. Behind an early goal from Kaley Heinz, the Warriors squeezed by the first round of the postseason with a 1-0 win.

On Thursday, the Warriors had moved to tenth, and were pegged with taking the road to visit Lincoln Southeast, the top seed in District A-3, for a ticket to the NSAA Class A State Tournament next week. The Warriors gave up two early goals and trailed 2-0 at halftime, but senior goalkeeper Georgia Wimmer said that the mindset was positive at the break.

“At halftime, I told the team not to think about the score,” Wimmer said. “But to think about after the game. If they look back on it, what do they want to be able to say?”

From the sound of the whistle that began the second half onward, the Warriors outscored the top-seeded Knights, 5-2. The rally began when senior Sylvia Fehr found the net with 22 minutes to go in the game. Lincoln Southeast responded as Cassie Nash sunk her second goal of the game, but Westside would go on to score two goals in the final five minutes to force extra time with the Knights. Three more combined goals were scored in overtime, but Westside had the advantage courtesy of two corner kicks. Wimmer said that hearing the final buzzer was relieving.

“I felt like I had let my team down, letting two goals in the first half,” Wimmer said. “I’m just so proud of the way they stepped out and came back and won it.”

Westside’s 5-4 win over Lincoln Southeast at Seacrest Field punched the program’s seventh state tournament berth in eight years. It is also the third team district win of the 2019-20 school year.

Westside 5—S. Fehr (2), Homan, Nielsen, Kleidosty

Lincoln Southeast 4—Nash, King, Babcocok