NICKERSON – One person was missing from Tuesday night's girls soccer regular season finale between Buhler and Nickerson.

It seemed like yesterday that Hadley Nelson, with a bandaged left knee, scored a goal in the final regular season soccer game for the Nickerson Panthers against the Buhler Crusaders. One year later, Nelson, who died of cancer, is not around.

Instead, her jersey rode with the team and sat on the bench at every game this season for Nickerson, including away games.

Hadley died on October 2, 2021, ending her emotional and inspirational battle with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that is found in long bones in the body like the legs. She would have been 17 years old in April. However, she has not been forgotten by her teammates and the community. 

Although Buhler (8-7-1) topped Nickerson (7-8-1) 10-0 to end the regular season on a three-game winning streak with Nickerson winning four of its last six in the final stretch, the pregame presentation was the summit of Tuesday's match. 

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"Last fall, we lost a teammate in Hadley Nelson," Nickerson head girls soccer coach Aaron Howe said to the crowd in attendance. "It impacted our girls obviously a lot."

Howe proceeded to thank Buhler and head girls soccer coach Randall Rank for letting Hadley have that moment last season where she scored Nickerson's lone goal on the emotional night. 

During warmups, every player from Buhler and Nickerson wore a yellow T-shirt with the No. 8 on the back – Hadley's jersey number. Howe said to the crowd her jersey had traveled more than 1,300 miles. 

The juniors on the team gifted Hadley's mother, Heather Nelson, the jersey. 

"To be able to do that for her family, to be able to give them the jersey and to be able to share that moment with them just felt like the right thing to do," Howe said. "It didn't feel right to hang on to something that was (Hadley's)."

Since her death, the Nickerson and Buhler communities continued to remember Hadley's fight and celebrate her life. That celebration wasn't limited to soccer. During the basketball season opener between Nickerson and Buhler, shirts were sold to commemorate Hadley. Buhler was the host site too, and the maroon-colored gym was filled with gold – the color and ribbon that represents all cancers that occur in childhood.

Nickerson also hosted a Gold Out Night on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021 during the volleyball team's triangular against Larned and Hesston.

Hadley's jersey stood as a symbol of Hadley's life and presence, Howe said, and the reason why they took the jersey to every game.

"To be able to hang it at every bench has been a big symbol," Howe said. "To take it from bench to bench and from city to city, it's almost been kind of like having her in the bus and in the locker rooms. The girls have really stepped up. They can be really sad, but they play as if she was there."

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Rank, who played against Howe while the two were in middle school and was coached by current Nickerson assistant soccer coach Erin Ontjes, said it meant a lot to be a part of something so big and special to the Nickerson community. 

"I've been close to Aaron, the head coach, throughout the last couple of seasons," Rank said. "It's bigger than the sport. It's the life lessons and the things you can do and the team work and all those types of things you learn through sports."

Billy Watson is the sports reporter for The Hutchinson News and has been in Kansas since March 2021. To reach out about story ideas, you can send an email to wwatson@gannett.com or send a direct message on Twitter @hutchsports or @billywatson4l.