TOPEKA — It took 80 regulation minutes, two overtimes and penalty kicks to finish, but a red card on Lawrence’s goalkeeper gave Topeka enough momentum as the Trojans beat Lawrence in penalty kicks.

“With 20 minutes left in the first half we go down to 10 men and we take them all the way through double overtime… that’s tough,” Lawrence coach Joe Comparato said. “PKs are just PKs. Anything can happen.”

The Lions were healthier defensively than they were a week ago, which helped bolster that end of the field. For the first half of the game, the Lions were not allowing many scoring chances from Topeka and kept the ball on the Trojans’ side of the field.

Junior Jackson Raney and freshman Brock White were active early in the final third in putting shots on the Trojans, but their attempts fell short for much of the period.

“We just couldn’t get a foot on it with the right angle,” Comparato said. “We put the ball in some dangerous places, but we just couldn’t finish it.”

The scoring offense got more challenging after White, who has become a critical part of the team’s finishing, left the game with a foot injury. A few other offensive players weren’t able to play at 100% health, which a challenging and full schedule in the final weeks made more difficult.

“We were slim pickings by the end of the game, and that’s a testament to the guys that came off the bench and helped us stay in it,” Comparato said.

The offense did have its moment in the first half. Junior Emmet Laufer found Raney across the face of the net for a goal with six minutes remaining. With players not being fully healthy, Raney has been the one to get it done in the final third, and he did so again on Monday. Comparato called Jackson “our dangerous guy” and said he’s lucky to have Raney on the team for another year next season.

The Lions held the lead into halftime. Comparato stressed to his team about getting an insurance goal in the second half with the number of scoring chances the Lions saw, but the offense couldn’t put it together in the final half.

Lawrence got into trouble in the second half when senior goalkeeper Noah Schmidt was taken out of the game with a red card. Sophomore Eamon O’Connor came in for Schmidt, but the Lions relinquished a goal soon after.

The defense performed better after the goal went through, and the Lawrence offense turned it back up to end regulation. The Lions lived in the final third for the final six minutes, but none of the forwards were able to get the ball across the net.

“We had so many chances to put that thing in when we had it down on that end, and we just couldn’t crack it,” Comparato said. “They played tight defense when they needed to. That’s tough.”

That led to overtime, where the Lions were tested defensively. O’Connor had a couple saves while the Lawrence offense was unable to win the game despite more close opportunities.

In penalty kicks, the Trojans were perfect. Lawrence fell behind the count early as Raney and senior Oscar Paden both missed their shots. Senior Jasper Piepergerdes hit his penalty kick, but Topeka’s fourth make on the following penalty kick secured the win for the Trojans.

“I’m proud of the way the seniors played a great four years,” Comparato said. “I think we’ve got a good underclass coming up, so we’ll try to do our best.”

Lawrence finished the season 6-10 and lost in the regional semifinal round for the second year in a row.

The Lions will graduate seven seniors, but the team has a lot of playmakers who will be back next year. Comparato said the discipline that it takes to play is something he hopes the Lions can learn from this season and put toward the future.

“You’ve got to play with discipline,” Comparato said. “You’ve got to play with your team. I think the younger guys got that, and I hope they carry that into next year.”