MUSCATINE -- It was a tough way to end the season for the Kennedy girls soccer team.

The No. 8 Cougars dropped their opening game in the Class 3A state soccer tournament, 2-1, Thursday night against No. 2 West Des Moines Valley in overtime.

“It’s always tough to come this far and come up just a little bit short, but coming into it we knew it was basically a 50-50 game,” said Kennedy Coach Homer Screws. “It was really going to come down to who executed. At the end of the day, we all had chances, but they did a great job and they are a great team.”

Kennedy (16-4) struck first in the game when Annie Feltes got a rebound and passed it over to Hannah Polomo, who buried it into the back of the net with just 15 seconds remaining in the first half.  Valley (15-4) responded almost immediately in the second half, however, tying the game at 1-1 just two minutes into the period.

The game continued to go back and fourth for the rest of regulation and overtime, until Hannah Turner found the goal for the Tigers on a corner kick with just 1:18 left in the first overtime period.

“I told the seniors, they have had their fair share of success and had a great career,” Screws said. “If you have to go out on a last game and you are not going to win it, it’s okay to go out in overtime against a classy team.”

Screws said that this year's team has been a fun one for him to coach.

“To be honest with you, with this group I will remember a lot of things that have nothing to do with the game,” he said. “Some of the stuff on the bus ride over or pre-practice stuff, they are just an entertaining group of players. They work hard, I don’t think any of us expected them to do as well as they did, just because we have 10 freshmen on the squad. But the practice environment was good. It has been a successful season. I’m proud of them.”

The Kennedy girls soccer team looks like it is set up for success for the foreseeable future. The Cougars had 11 freshmen on the roster for the state tournament, including two starters. Screws said he is also excited about the leadership qualities of some of the sophomores and juniors from this year.

“I think the future for the next three or four years is going to be quite bright,” he said.

Valley 2, Kennedy 1 (OT)
Goals -- WDMV: Lauren Waggoner (43rd min), Hannah Turner (88th min). CRK: Hannah Polomo. Assists -- WDMV: Grace Nichols. CRK: Annie Feltes.