Saint Thomas Aquinas Boys Soccer 2024

Game 18 (11-6-1) 31 October vs. Turner at Turner (3-1) 2024 Stats We traveled to Turner High School, the number two seed, for this year's Region 2 Final. We played well against a very technical and aggressive team, but it was a battle. I thought we benefitted from opening up without a "9" in our 4-2-4. We limited chances early, and it paid off, as we also got out of the first fifteen minutes with a lead. The Golden Bears only got two shots off in the first half, but they did tally three corners. We scored about 9 minutes in on an STA ball. We stayed in our opening formation for about 15 minutes, but Spence did not get the memo when we came out of it, so he was overcommitting to the right side for most of the first half. (That mistake was on me for just telling one person we were moving into our normal formation.) David Weinberg had just a great deadball with about 7 minutes left in the half after Brody got fouled. He bent it hard and down at the keeper who could not handl

Game 17: (10-6-1) 29 October vs. Bonner Springs at Home (8-0) 2024 Stats We didn't get the wind, but we have some pretty good captains. We began the quest for our 33rd Regional Title in 37 years (it would be 22 in a row) with our Seniors' and my last home match, ever. We took care of business for the most part tonight. We cashed five dead balls, had two guys score two goals, created 10 corners, and even got a follow-goal—something that excites our entire staff.  Bonner had a few pretty good players and a very good keeper. I thought they were pretty well-coached, too, so it's not that surprising that the match played until the final four minutes. The most drama in the match came early, with us up 1-0, when we dropped the ball back to Parker, who got his feet tangled up before inadvertently tripping the Brave forward on his shot that went wide. Parker was yellow-carded, putting Hank in goal to defend the Braves' only shot on goal for the night. He positioned himself well,

Game 16: (9-6-1) 17 October vs. BV West at Home (3-2 in the second overtime) 2024 Stats EKL Standings Senior Night began with our ceremonial marching from midfield to the boundary. Each senior came down the gauntlet (bordered by cheerleaders and teammates) as Leo Brown gave us a short bio of them as they walked with their parents whom the cheerleaders presented with flowers (Moms) and medals (Dads). And this year, also my final year, I joined the procedures at the end. If we wanted a memorable final Senior Night—well then, this was the Senior Night for that. Nate LeBourveau Takes The Senior Night Kickoff First of all, when you play BV West, the match  definitely  will be jazzed as they man-to-man mark, play a stopper/sweeper, attack every ball with energy, and have constant communication going on from the coaching box/field. We handled it well, adjusting to the fact that not many fouls were going to be called. So, it was quite a game. We continue to desire to play overtime as many time

Game 15 (8-6-1) 15 October at AnDAC vs. Blue Valley (3-2 OT) 2024 Stats EKL Standings Well, it has been a long time since we have suited up and played Bobby Bjorseth (Game five, 10 minutes in, we lost him to a leg injury.), and he became the central figure in tonight's win.  First of all, despite vows to the contrary, we got off to yet another slow start. We allowed two goals within a minute of one another about 15 minutes in. The Tigers at that point in time had three shots and three shots on goal. Now, they did not get another shot off the rest of the match, but we had put ourselves in quite a hole, 2-0. ("The most dangerous score in soccer.") The boys engineered one final corner kick before the half-time horn to our credit. Spencer got off the perfect ball from the left, a low liner just over Brody's head as it skipped to the back post for a Laws poke-in. Unable to produce a goal early in the second half, we moved Laws up to the "9," moved Bobby over to c

Game 14 (7-6-1) 8 October vs. Blue Valley Northwest at Home (3-2, OT) 2024 Stats EKL Standings We were back from Springfield, but we still had to play without Rutter, who still has one bad wheel to go with a new fever.  So Kitts played his second match as our centerback. He is now 2-0 . . . not too shabby. But we continue to play with only two of our starting back line, and with only one of them, playing his normal position.  Northwest has a nice team with worrisome size in the back and available to defend deadballs.  We played an excellent 65 minutes, allowing the Huskies not much, controlling possession, and initiating quite a few nice attacks. We loved Anso getting forward to strike the perfect baseline cross.  With about 20 minutes to go in the match, they brought some of their size forward to play along the front line. We were approaching the 10-minute mark, getting ready to go double-10 as we had nicely finished the Carthage match on Saturday. We needed to do something to counter

Game 13 (6-6-1) 5 October vs. Carthage on turf at Kickapoo (2-1)  2024 Stats EKL Standings We left Springfield in a better mood than we were in Friday night after two tough losses. This one started out almost identically to the first two matches. We gave up a goal shortly after kickoff to go down 1-0, and we were close to giving up another one a few minutes later. We made some adjustments that appeared to shut down the Carthage attack. We moved Spencer from the "6" to the "10," and had Doerfler take over at the "6." Owen Kitts took over the centerback spot next to Miles, and Alex Fuentes went to the "9." They did not get a shot off the rest of the half. We appeared to have shut down their attack, but we still had not scored a goal in the entire tournament outside of a PK. Early second half, with Omar now playing a withdrawn "9,"  he took a pass, pushing it wide to Brody. Brody shot down the line, boxed it across, for an Omar finish at t

Game 12: (5-6-1) 4 October vs. Nixa at Kickapoo (1-2) 2024 Stats EKL Standings We headed into day 2 of the Chiefs Classic intent on getting a result.  We said all of the right things during our pregame meeting, but we began the match sluggishly, giving up a goal in the first four minutes.  We had fouled at the side of the top of the 18-box. Nixa hit a low line drive that Parker knocked to the ground, and they touched it in.  Shortly after, Nixa beat us down on the same side and got a bouncing shot off. Parker dove over it after various defensive errors that put the ball inside the box, and there we were down 2-0.  We had plenty of time to come back to secure the win, but all we could muster was one late PK.  We did create chances, near misses, and all of that, but we could not come up with another goal.  We will need to be ready to play tomorrow at the whistle if we are going to get back in the win column and to set up our final run of regular season. We will play Carthage, a team who

Game 11 (5-5-1) 3 October vs. Glendale in Chiefs' Classic  2024 Stats EKL Standings Well, we began the Chiefs' Classic against a highly respected Glendale team who came in 9-2-1. And they left, 10-2-1. We outplayed them, honestly. They, however, countered our throw-in, and we just could not put the ball in the net, despite our 16 shots, our 8 corner kicks, and our numerous free kicks and long throw-ins. With both Kitts and Rutter out from injury and sickness, we needed a couple of extended guys to play as if they are not extended guys. And they did. Michael Doerfler took over for Greyson at Centerback, and he fit nicely with Laws, as he played off him. And Ollie who filled in for Kitts ended up being the Man of the Match—it was those performances that allowed us to play at our best, for they replaced two of our best defenders. We are back in action tomorrow against a Nixa team (1900 in their high school) that lost 2-1 to Lee's Summit West in overtime. So, we will have to be

Game 10: (5-4-1) 1 October vs. BV North at home (5-0) 2024 Stats EKL Standings We opened a huge week for the team with a return home to play Blue Valley North. After this week, the season will be down to only 3 more matches, as we will play three more games in Springfield at the end of the week. We came into the match knowing we had to play better defensively. We had been giving up just too many goals. And we did that. In fact, North only got three shots off all night, and only one of those was on goal. We played lock-down defense, holding a good North team at zero. That happened with a strong back four (Kitts, Rutter, Laws, and Lynch) and a superb keeper in Parker Lehn. Oliver Sarmiento and Grady Richlin held down the wings virtually throughout the second half, and Hank Gassel protected the net for 20 minutes. The match began in pregame with the best captain's speeches I can recall. Before, the last captain to speak and the Man of the Match tonight, closed those captains' spee