Wildcats rally to beat Kansas City Christian

By Andy Brown
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Updated: May 8, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg goalie Shay Whiting comes out to make a save Thursday against Baldwin at Baldwin High School. Whiting earned her sixth shutout of the season and the Wildcats came back the next day to defeat Kansas City Christian 5-3.

The Louisburg girls soccer team had its work cut out for itself last week as the Wildcats had to play three games in four days.

This late in the season, every win matters for the Wildcats as they are trying to get the highest seed possible for the upcoming regional tournament. Louisburg certainly took a big step forward in that regard.

After losing to De Soto, 3-0, last Tuesday, the Wildcats redeemed themselves in a big way.

Louisburg shutout Baldwin on Thursday and then it followed it up with a 5-3 victory Friday at home over Kansas City Christian. The wins improved the Wildcats’ record to 9-4-1 on the season and puts them in good position for the postseason.

“That win was really good for our program,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said of the Kansas City Christian win. “It gives us the opportunity to possibly get to 10 wins and almost ensures we will host a regional. The girls are really determined and are playing to my style of play almost perfectly. I couldn’t be more excited how we are playing right now.”

The Wildcats had to work a little extra harder to get the win as they had to play from behind for most of the match.

Kansas City Christian (KCC) opened the match with a goal to take an early lead, but freshman Mackenzie Scholtz tied it up to get the Wildcats on the board. KCC followed it up with another score, and again, Louisburg tied it on a goal from junior Bailey Belcher.

KCC found the back of the net before halftime to take a 3-2 advantage, but the Wildcats came out firing in the second half.

Belcher scored back-to-back goals to give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead and also earned a hat trick in the process. Scholtz sealed the win with her second goal later in the half as the Wildcats’ defense tightened up in the final 40 minutes.

Freshman Avery O’Meara, junior Savannah Reinhart and Scholtz each had an assist in the win.

“It was an incredibly physical game that got pretty chippy towards the end,” Conley said “We came out a little flat and struggled to play our game for the first 20 minutes or so. It could have been due to the little bit of lay over from playing the previous night, but that’s no excuse.

“We were trying to do too much to pick up teammates, instead of letting the ball do the work and playing within ourselves. We did come back three different times until we finally took the lead for good. The girls kept fighting and grinding. It was great to see how they all stuck together and didn’t give up. I was extremely happy how hard we played and how we responded to such a physical game.”

Louisburg will play its final regular season home game at 6 p.m. tonight when it hosts Ottawa for Senior Night. The Wildcats will end the regular season Thursday at Spring Hill.

Wildcats blank Baldwin on the road

BALDWIN CITY – After getting shutout itself two days before against De Soto, the Louisburg girls soccer team returned the favor Thursday against Baldwin.

The Wildcats scored two goals in each half and left Baldwin City with a 4-0 victory over the Bulldogs.

“Our girls have a lot of expectations and goals for themselves and we talk about only being as good as your last game,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “Playing a good Baldwin side like we did was fantastic. We were focused and played very determined. We did a fantastic job letting the ball do the work and moving off of the ball. I loved how much energy we played with as well.”

Junior Savannah Reinhart helped out with all four Louisburg goals. Reinhart had her best day of the season as she scored a pair of goals and assisted on the other two.

Louisburg junior Savannah Reinhart sends the ball toward the net for one of her two goals Thursday against Baldwin.

“Savannah had the best day of her career,” Conley said. “Her runs off the ball were fantastic and when she received the ball she knew exactly what she wanted to do with it. Her vision and anticipation for the game has been really, really good the past couple weeks. I could not be happier for her. She was definitely the lady of the match for us. “

Junior Bailey Belcher opened the scoring early for Louisburg when she found the back of the net just three minutes into the match on an assists from Reinhart.

Reinhart assisted on the Wildcats’ second goal just a few minutes later after freshman Mackenzie Scholtz scored to give Louisburg a 2-0 halftime lead.

Baldwin had a couple different opportunities with shots on goal, but the Wildcat defense held, including goalie Shay Whiting. The Louisburg junior, along with sophomore goalie Carson Buffington, combined to earn the shutout – which was Whiting’s sixth of the season.

Louisburg’s attack continued to work well with each other in the second half as Reinhart scored both goals in the second half on assists from Belcher and Scholtz to lock up the win.

“We did a great job of moving the ball and being very productive on the offensive end,” Conley said. “I am not sure it was our best game, but it was top three for sure. Our team chemistry is at an all-time high right now. The girls are understanding the system, and with the style of play, they are making it look easy right now.

“The positive from all of our injuries is we have had a lot of different girls step up and now they are playing major roles on our team. I am very excited with how the girls are executing offensively.”