Belcher’s lone goal enough to beat Basehor-Linwood

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 26, 2016

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg freshman Camdyn Clark tries to settle the ball in the air Friday during the Wildcats’ home match with Basehor-Linwood. The Wildcats scored an early goal in the first half and it was enough to get a 1-0 win.

Bailey Belcher raced down the field with the ball at her feet.

She made one defender miss. Then another. A third defender tried to poke the ball away from Belcher, but it wasn’t going to happen.

The Louisburg sophomore made her way through the Basehor-Linwood defense and put a goal away 10 minutes into Friday’s contest. As it turned out, it’s all Louisburg needed.

The Wildcat girls soccer team racked up its seventh win of the season with a 1-0 victory over the Bobcats in Louisburg. Thanks to a timely goal and stingy defense, it was enough to give the Wildcats their second straight win and they have won four of their last five matches.

Louisburg is now 7-2-1 in its inaugural year as it gets ready for the final few weeks of games.

“I don’t think anyone in their wildest dreams thought we would be where we are right now,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “But the girls are playing well right now and working hard. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The Wildcats faced a Basehor-Linwood team that plays a similar style and made for an even match as neither team had many shots on goal.

Louisburg goalie Shay Whiting dives to stop a Basehor-Linwood shot Friday in Louisburg.

However, junior Lily Cook had a couple early opportunities for Louisburg as she had two shots on goal that just missed the back of the net and the Wildcats dominated possession early.

Following Cook’s opportunities, Belcher had an opportunity of her own with a goal in the 10^th minute to put the Wildcats up early.

“She just kept going down the field,” Conley said of Belcher. “Basehor was flat-footed and they dove at her. She just made a few quick touches and she was through. That is what we try to do by laying the ball and moving the ball because then we have the momentum going forward because those defenders are always on their heels. If you have any speed burst at all, you are going to go right by them and Bailey took full advantage of that.”

Louisburg continued to control possession into the second half before Basehor-Linwood saw a few cracks in the Wildcat defense as they put three shots on goal in the final 20 minutes of the second half.

Sophomore goalie Shay Whiting made two diving saves to keep Basehor out of the net and preserve her fourth shutout of the season.

“(Basehor) didn’t have many good chances, but I was a little worried that they might put one in because we didn’t have many chances ourselves,” Conley said. “It was just a good game that was played 18 (yard line) to 18 and those are tough games to play. We haven’t had many games like that, but the girls played well. We had a couple chances in the first half and had one that hit the crossbar later, but we couldn’t get many to go in.

“We controlled the first 20 or 25 minutes of that second half but then we started to fall apart a little bit. I think we got tired. I was just worried that we were going to get comfortable with that lead, but the girls did a good job and they fought.”

JV blanks Basehor-Linwood

Louisburg’s junior varsity soccer team had a little easier time finding the back of the net against Basehor-Linwood as it jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back in a 3-0 win.

Freshman Camdyn Clark opened the scoring in the game’s opening minutes on an assist from Peyton Shaffer and fellow freshman Hayli Detherage followed it up with a goal of her own.

Kaitlyn Lewer, another Wildcat freshman, sealed the win with a goal in the second half. Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Wilson earned the shutout.