Out of an 80-minute one-sided soccer skirmish, all it took was 10 seconds Monday night at Kingston Stadium to end the Kennedy girls’ season and send Iowa City West to the state tournament.

The Cougars held possession of the ball practically all night but were unable to punch through West’s impenetrable defense around the goal.

And in one of the very few times the Women of Troy came close to scoring, they had the ball flop free right in front of the net with 9:24 to go and pushed it in for a 1-0 victory in a Class 3A regional final.

Despite watching his defending state championship team dominate play the whole way, Kennedy Coach Andrew McKnight said it was no fluke they lost.

“The game was pretty much as we expected,” he pointed out. “We were relentless in our attack and they were equally relentless on defense.

“We got beat on a quick counter attack and goal, simple as that.”

The turn-about was swift.

With 20 minutes left, the Cougars mounted an all-out assault to break the scoreless tie.

The bench even cleared as the reserves clustered on the sidelines at the goal line as impromptu cheerleaders.

Shot after shot was blocked before reaching the goal keeper.

One howitzer from 30 yards out by junior Kaela Dickerman hit the crossbar, two inches too high to count.

Suddenly, the ball went the other way downfield.

With too few defenders to impede the flow, West split the seam and took a clean shot that Cougar goalie Olivia Weigel came out to stop.

The ball ricocheted off the shin guard of Iowa City freshman Tia Saunders and she tapped it into an empty net.

“We’d had a 10-minute goal attack going forward,” McKnight explained. “Then we didn’t organize quickly enough on the transition back.

“They got behind our defenders, had a clear shot and then a fortunate bounce.

“They countered well when it mattered and had good fortune at the end.”

The Cougars enjoyed several more scoring opportunities but couldn’t capitalize on them, which was the story of the night.

Tenth-ranked Kennedy (13-6) was aggressive right from the start against eighth-ranked West (15-4).

“Keep it moving,” McKnight exhorted his troops throughout.

It took a full 18 minutes into the game before Iowa City even made it past midfield.

Shortly after, it took a last-ditch block by Cougar sophomore Jessica Wagner to prevent a score when Weigel fell down, leaving the net wide open.

And with mere seconds left in the first half, Kennedy freshman Carly Langhurst almost scored when she sizzled one barely over the net.

More Cougar attacks followed after intermission, all of them to no avail.

The teams tangled just two weeks ago, with West also coming out on top 1-0 on a penalty kick in the first overtime.

“We knew this would be another tough game,” said Kennedy junior Paige Henderson.  “We started out with a bang and got some amazing shots on goal. We had a lot chances, but their midfield is very strong.

“We really thought we had a perfect team that meshed well and could go a long way in state. But unfortunately, stuff happens.”

Disappointed that his charges won’t have the opportunity to defend the title they won last year as long-shot underdogs, McKnight was nevertheless proud of this team’s accomplishments.

“We caused a lot of problems for a lot of good teams,” he noted. “So they (Iowa City West) have some special players to handle Kennedy twice in one season.”