Lainey Stanfill leads Lady Sandites to 1-0 upset of Union
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This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.
The 2022 Lady Sandite soccer season has been all about making history, and Tuesday’s 1-0 win against Union was no exception.
With under seven minutes left to play, freshman star Lainey Stanfill connected on her 20th goal of the season to knock off the perennial powerhouse RedHawks (10-5, 6-1) and lift the Sandites (11-4, 4-2) to a new program-best record.
“The Union game was something out of a movie,” said first-year head coach Cisco Chavez.
“Ava (Watts) took it from about half field, it bounced right in front of the keeper and went over. She tipped it out right to Lainey’s foot. Lainey put it in the net and the rest is history, kind of like our season. Just making history, historic moments, and we’re going to keep going.”
The game marked the first time this season the RedHawks have been shut out. Union has averaged more than four goals per game this year, led by University of Arkansas commit Makenzie Malham.
“Lockdown defense,” said Chavez. “We stopped the Gatorade Player of the Year from last year (Malham). They stuck to the assignment and they played well.”
The Sandites had an unfortunate end to the week in a 5-0 loss at Edmond North (11-1, 6-1) with a district title on the line.
The day got off to a rocky start from the very beginning when the Sandites arrived late to the match due to a scheduling mixup.
The teams had agreed three weeks prior to move the match up from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to help the Huskies manage extensive Senior Night festivities between the girls’ and boys’ games. That change of schedule wasn’t documented on the Sandites’ end, however, and the girls had to go straight to action right off the bus.
To make matters worse, Katie Webb suffered a likely season-ending MCL sprain shortly into the first half, and the Sandites were on the receiving end of a 30 MPH headwind that made it nearly impossible to move the ball outside of their own box.
“We haven’t had wind like this all year,” said Chavez. “First half, (Edmond North) came out, they put their chances away. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put it in the back of the net tonight, and that happens.”
The Huskies took a 4-0 lead into the half on goals by Ady Bechtel, Maddie Holub, Elle Schuppan, and Desi Abney.
The Sandites played a far closer match in the second half but still only managed one shot on goal, with Leslie Miller recording the save. Julia McBride added the final goal of the night in the 52nd minute to put the match away.
Sophomore goalie Christina Thompson came away with seven saves in the contest.
“I’ll put this loss on me,” said Chavez. “This was mine for miscommunication with the other coaches. This loss was on me, not on the girls. We look forward to bouncing back and moving forward.”
Due to circular losses in a hotly contested district, the Sandites would have finished first with a win, but slipped to fourth with the loss. They will play the 6A-4 District Champions in the postseason, either Broken Arrow (10-1) or Owasso (14-0).
Sand Springs will wrap up the season Monday with a Senior Night district match against Putnam City (3-11, 0-6) at 6:00 p.m.
Boys
The Sandites (0-11, 0-6) fell by way of 10-0 mercy rule Tuesday against Union (10-5, 5-2) and lost 8-0 to Edmond North (9-3, 5-2) Friday night on the road. They will have one last shot at a win Monday at 8:00 p.m. when they host Putnam City (5-7, 2-3) on Senior Night.
