Wildcats end losing streak with tie to Eudora

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 24, 2015

Louisburg senior Jairus Brown clears the ball away during Tuesday’s home match with Eudora. The Wildcats ended their six-game losing streak with a 2-2 tie to the Cardinals.

The Louisburg boys soccer team saw one streak go by the wayside, while another stayed intact following Tuesday’s home contest with Eudora.

For the Wildcats, both were positives.

Although it wasn’t a victory, Louisburg ended a six-game losing skid with a 2-2 tie of Eudora after the Wildcats rallied from a two-goal deficit in the first half.

The other streak remained alive as Louisburg has still not lost to Eudora in the 13-year program history. Those were enough to leave some positive vibes around the team despite not getting a victory.

“I would have rather us got the win, but those things mean something about being able to fight back,” Louisburg coach Ben York said. “We are this close, with a little shift in confidence and a couple of things going are way, that we can turn it around. We have the potential to win several games down the stretch.”

Louisburg (1-6-1) possessed the ball for much of the second half and two overtime periods. With that, the Wildcats had plenty of chances to win the game in regulation and several opportunities in overtime.

The Wildcats had 23 shots on goal for the game, with a lot of those in the final part of the match. Whether the ball wasn’t struck just right, or a shot hit off the post or the goalkeeper made the save, they put themselves in a position to win.

“The hardest part about this game is not clearing a ball out of the back, but it is taking a shot and you only have eight feet on one side or the other of the goalie to finish those shots,” York said. “We work on it in practice, but we haven’t had a lot of opportunities in games.

Midfielder Grant Ryals heads the ball away Tuesday during the Wildcats’ home match with Eudora.

“We have to find a way to finish those and we will. We haven’t been that offensive to have a lot of those opportunities and that is one of the more frustrating things when you are trying to build a team. We could have scored literally eight goals and we just couldn’t finish. Eudora played really hard and really tough and that is the best Eudora has looked in a long time, but we need to finish those.”

Eudora jumped on Louisburg early as it opened the game with two first half goals, but the Wildcats didn’t hang their heads and fought back. Sophomore Christian Scholtz cut the lead in half with the team’s first goal, then senior T.J. Svoboda followed that up to tie the game late in the first half.

The Wildcats also made a defensive adjustment late in the first half as they moved senior forward Jairus Brown back on defense to help mark up on Eudora’s main offensive threat.

The Cardinals didn’t get many chances to score in the second half, while the Wildcats took over and peppered Eudora with shots in the overtime. Svoboda, Scholtz, Herman Knipp, Curran Conklin, Grant Ryals and Noah Juarez all had shots on goal, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

Louisburg, despite playing a close match the day before, had more energy than Eudora toward the end of the match, which kept the Wildcats in it.

“We were tired and we didn’t come out strong to start,” York said. “However, our conditioning is what kept us in it till the end. You say it and say it to the guys, but our conditioning is the reason we were able to get all those opportunities in the end. You watch their guys come off with cramps, and we had played a game the day before and then went to double overtime in this one, and we were still making runs and getting shots.”

Louisburg will try for a win tonight when it travels to Bonner Springs. The Wildcats will then return home Monday to play Heritage Christian.

Wildcats fall to Piper

Louisburg was on the verge of seeing its losing ways come to an end Monday when it hosted Piper.

Instead, the Wildcats watched as the Pirates scored two goals in the final six minutes and fell 3-2. Louisburg had the lead on two occasions, but both times Piper answered the Wildcat score.

In the 23^rd minute, junior Noah Juarez gave Louisburg an early lead with a strong shot in the box and the Wildcats held that lead at halftime. To start the second half, Piper scored in the 47^th minute to tie the game.

It stayed that way until the 73^rd minute when sophomore Christian Scholtz hit a shot that sailed over the goalie’s head. The momentum stayed with the Wildcats for about 30 seconds, which was when Piper tied the game with a quick goal.

In the 89^th minute, Piper struck the ball hard and the shot went off the right post and bounced in.

“The most frustrating part about it is we don’t know what it feels like as a team, when we are up late, how to put the opponent away because that is where we had them,” Louisburg coach Ben York said. “It was a step in the right direction though. We were able to score some goals which we hadn’t done in a while. Plus, now these guys know what they have to do to put teams away when we are up late and it is a good learning experience for them.”