Boys Soccer Starts Post-Season Games

Written by mindy.haesemeyer on . Posted in Newspaper.

Story by Isabelle Flood – Social Media Editor

With fall sports winding down, the Boys’ Soccer team has been preparing for their post-season play. Their first district game is on Saturday against Carthage at Rockhurst High School. The team and coaches have their expectations for the district tournament.

   “I expect us to just come out and play at our best. We have been putting in a lot of work and the boys have looked strong throughout these past couple of weeks,” Ryan Kelley, boys soccer head varsity coach. 

   The players have made improvements throughout the season that show great promise for the upcoming tournament. Many players have stepped up to push as far as they can. 

   “Tre Paulding in goal has stepped up his game this year… he’s been great this season. Josh Griffin has done a great job of being a strong presence defensively and being the leader of that back line. And Jeremy Freund in the midfield, he reads the game very well,” Kelley said.

   Many of the players from last season, who had stepped up in the face of adversity, are stepping up again this year as seniors. That includes the senior captain Oliver Scofield coming back from his season-ending injury last season. 

   “Oliver Scofield, he got hurt very early last year and missed almost the entire season and for him to come back from his injury has been really great to see,” Kelley said.

    It’s no secret that the seniors on the team have made a huge impact this year. But they are starting to feel the end is near and are hoping to get as far as possible in districts.

   “They are a little bit more locked in and they are a little bit more willing to keep the rest of the team focused, they understand the finality of what happens as we move forward. They want to be able to play as long as they can,” Kelley said. 

   Staying focused and relying on each other is hopefully what will get them far in districts this year. They hope to win on Saturday and then potentially face Rockhurst on Tuesday. The students and staff can’t wait to see how they close out this season.

Photo by Talon Cleveland – Feature Editor

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