Perhaps more than at any other point this season, and certainly not since taking a 3-2 win over Free State in the second match of the season, Hayden’s girls soccer team was somewhat up against it.
 
At halftime of Friday’s showdown with city rival Seaman in a battle of unbeatens – Hayden going into the match 13-0-0 and Seaman bringing in a 11-0-2 mark – it was the visiting Vikings seemingly in control. Already holding a 2-1 advantage midway through the first half, Seaman got a goal from Julia Molleker with 10:25 left in the half to go into the break up 3-1.
 
It was a position Hayden hadn’t been in all season, but it wasn’t cause for panic.
 
“We dug ourselves a hole, and give (Seaman) credit,” Hayden coach Klaus Kruetzer said. “They kind of took it to us there in that first half. I told the girls at halftime, ‘Don’t use being tired as an excuse,’ because we played (Thursday). Nobody cares.
 
“When we get down at half, I tell them, ‘Let’s score a quick goal in the second half and see what that does for us.’”
 
The Wildcats did just that. Not only did they get a quick goal, they got a flurry of them. Senior Carsyn Broxterman scored less than four minutes into the second half and that spark quickly became a raging fire. Emma Slyter scored an equalizer two and a half minutes later and then Broxterman added another goal just over three minutes after that goal as Hayden stunned Seaman with three goals in a span of 6:47, erasing the halftime deficit and sending the Wildcats on to a 5-3 victory.
 
“Halftime, we were definitely down,” said Broxterman, who added Hayden’s fourth goal of the second half for the final margin, giving her a hat trick in the second half. “But you could tell we were eager to get back out there and get the goals we needed to to get the win. Even though we were down, we wanted it so much more than what we showed in the first half. We really wanted this game.”
 

 
And quite frankly, it was a game that Hayden needed with the postseason drawing near.
 
Coming off a runner-up finish in Class 4-1A a year ago, falling 2-1 in overtime to Bishop Miege, which captured its ninth straight championship, Hayden has held high hopes for the 2026 season since the start. The Wildcats returned nearly the entirety of their runner-up squad, losing only one senior off last year’s 13-8-0 team.
 
That experience showed early in the season as Hayden opened the year with an 8-0 drubbing of Cair Paravel and then squeaked by Free State 3-2 – the most goals the Wildcats had allowed in a game until Seaman scored three on Friday. 
 
Hayden reeled off six straight shutouts after the Free State win, including a 5-0 romp past Miege and a 2-0 win over Rural, the first win over the Junior Blues in over a decade. 
 
In the 13 matches leading up to the showdown with Seaman, Hayden had allowed just four goals with Trinity Academy and Manhattan each getting one. Seniors Kadence Watts and Lauren Borjon have been rock solid in splitting time as goalkeeper while the defense in front of them have limited opposing attacks at a high level.
 
On the flip side, the Wildcats have been extremely potent offensively. The Wildcats average just over 5 goals per game with Broxterman the leading scorer with 22 goals and 14 assists. Fellow senior Reese Huscher has 10 goals and 8 assists while Slyter (9 goals, 6 assists), Grace Funk (8 goals, 8 assists) and Hailey Schmidtlein (8 goals) all have complemented Broxterman.
 
“We changed formations in the middle of the season and that really worked out better for our attack,” Kruetzer said. “And then (against Seaman) we changed formation again in the second half because we were kind of losing it in the midfield. And that paid dividends.”
 
As much as he anticipated the success Hayden is enjoying this season, Kruetzer admitted being undefeated at 14-0-0 was a bit of a surprise.
 
“It’s rewarding and it speaks for the program,” he said. “Most of these girls have been in the program for four years now and have the experience. And I don’t think the way last year ended sat well with them. But to be undefeated was never on my radar.”
 
Only matches with Emporia and Tonganoxie this week stand between Hayden and an undefeated regular season, something the program has never accomplished. The last state title for the Wildcats came in 2015, their third in a four-year span and the last 4-1A team to win ahead of Miege’s current nine-year streak. 
 
“We all came back with one goal, getting that state championship,” Broxterman said. “We just wanted to play our hardest our senior year and we’ve really implemented that no matter who we’ve played this year.”
 

 
Even though Seaman suffered its first loss of the season, the Vikings have put together one of their best seasons in program history. Their ties were 1-1 matches against Manhattan in the season opener and against United Kansas Conference rival De Soto, which is also 11-1-2 this season.
 
While Hayden returned the bulk of its squad from a year ago, Seaman suffered key losses from its 2025 team that posted a 13-6-0 record and fell in the state quarterfinals to De Soto. Among the graduation losses were first-team all-league picks Anna Becker (midfielder) and Maegan Mills (goalkeeper) while first-team all-league forward Ryin Miller wasn’t able to play this spring because of injury.
 
That left senior forward Ava Golightley as the lone returning first-team all-leaguer for the Vikings while Savannah Nelson and Maya Martin returned as second-team all-league picks.
 
But the Vikings have filled those voids more than capably and boast a formidable attack that has scored exactly the same number of goals as Hayden has (71) while allowing just 13. The trio of Molleker, Nelson and Ava Huston have fueled the Viking offense with Molleker having 18 goals and 9 assists, Nelson 17 goals and 11 assists and Huston 16 goals and 20 assists.
 
“This team has really clicked together from the preseason conditioning to the season,” Seaman coach Kyle Seevers said. “They’ve just meshed.”
 
As much as Friday’s loss to Hayden stung, given the position the Vikings were in at halftime, Seevers said it was a game that could pay off for Seaman’s postseason aspirations of making a deep run in Class 5A.
 
“In the end it’s going to pay huge dividends because we can address a couple things that we need to,” he said. “Some of those teams we play, you make a mistake and there’s no effect.  NO negative effect on your team. You continue to do that against a good team and you’re up 3-1 and next thing you know, you lose 5-3.
 
“Going into postseason, it’s huge to learn that because you get there and mistakes like that end your season. Hayden’s a great team and we’re a really good team, too. I told the girls that Hayden could win 4-1A with their eyes closed this year and I hope they do. But we’re capable of competing in Class 5A and nothing’s changed.”
 
OTHER GIRLS SOCCER STANDOUTS

• Cair Paravel’s KellyAnn Chada scored a hat trick in the Lions’ 4-2 win over Shawnee Heights on senior night.