By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Tuesday's 2026 Shawnee Heights girl soccer season-opener didn't go the T-Birds' way, with a string of injuries derailing Heights in a 3-0 home non-league loss to Lawrence at the Bettis Family Sports Complex.
Shawnee Heights junior Nina Bolanos (left) battles Lawrence's Maggie Wagner for the ball in Tuesday's 3-0 T-Bird loss to the Lions. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Heights entered its season-opener with a couple of players already nursing minor injuries and the situation got a lot worse Tuesday, with T-Bird junior standouts Morgan Robinson, Nina Bolanos and Brylee Garner all leaving the game with injuries.
But if there was a bright spot for Nic Simons' T-Birds, it was that none of the injuries appeared to be series and that they happened early in the year and not in crunch time at the end of the season.
"If I'm going to get bit by the injury bug I'd rather have it Game 1 then going into the postseason,'' Simons said. "Like I said to the kids, this is 10 out of 10 times not the speech that I'd be having after the game, but you know what, a little adversity to start the season is not necessarily bad for us.''
Robinson, one of Heights' top offensive threats, left the game at the 24:08 mark of the opening half and Garner was in and out of the game before calling it a night in the second half and Bolanos left the game late in the game with an ankle injury.
Shawnee Heights was still able to go into halftime locked in a scoreless deadlock before the 1-0 Lions took control in the second half.
Senior Stella Comparato scored the only goal Lawrence would need just 2:32 into the second half and Comparato added a second goal at the 23:59 mark and freshman Layla Simmons scored the Lions' final goal with 18:57 remaining.
Shawnee Heights struggled to mount much offense in the game, finishing with just one shot on goal.
"Obviously, losing Morgan early, that's a killer and losing Nina late obviously didn't help us at all,'' Simons said.
The T-Birds will return to action on Thursday, hosting Lawrence Free State at Bettis, before Heights has a week off to try to get back to full strength.
LAWRENCE 3, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 0
Lawrence (1-0) 0 3 -- 3
Shawnee Heights (0-1) 0 0 -- 0
Lawrence-- Goals: Stella Comparato 2, Layla Simmons. Shutout: Lillian Poteete. Redcard: Sidra Besson.
