Wildcats shut out Piper for second straight win

Louisburg freshman Mackenzie Scholtz splits the Piper defense as she dribbles into the box for a shot on goal Thursday in Louisburg. The Wildcats defeated Piper 4-0.

The Louisburg High School girls soccer team found the back of the net quickly as it scored three goals in less than 30 minutes against Piper.

That was almost a month ago.

Still, Louisburg picked up right where it left off when inclement weather postponed the April 4 match. When the game resumed Thursday, the Wildcats scored a goal a minute into the contest and ran away for a 4-0 win over Piper.

“We came out early and got on them quick,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “Looking at the score, it is easy to come out and get complacent and go through the motions. Piper has several really good players and it was important that we did a good job of standing them up and forcing them to do things they aren’t comfortable doing. It was good to come out and pick up where we left off and get this game finished.”

Junior Savannah Reinhart didn’t waste much time when the game resumed as she scored the lone goal Thursday before the two teams had a chance to get settled.

Going back to April 4, Reinhart finished with a pair of goals to lead Louisburg (7-3-1), while freshman Mackenzie Scholtz had two assists and a goal. Junior Bailey Belcher also added a goal and an assist.

Conley liked what he saw out of his offensive attack as the Lady Cats had other chances to score later in the match, but couldn’t connect.

“Our final third is doing a great job finding feet, running off the ball and making great cuts,” he said. “Our give-and-go’s are just shredding teams right now. If we keep doing that, and find feet, we are tough team to stop offensively.”

The back line also limited Piper’s shots on goal and helped goalie Shay Whiting earn her fifth shutout of the season. Kaitlyn Lewer, Camdyn Clark, Bryn O’Meara, Hannah Straub and others kept Piper away from the net.

Louisburg’s Kaitlyn Lewer clears the ball out of the back for the Wildcats on Thursday against Piper.

“Defensively, I thought we did a really good job of talking,” Conley said. “In the second half against Baldwin, we really picked that up and it continued. The biggest issue right now is when we do call the ball, other girls have to get out of the way. I am proud of the way the girls talked and they were super aggressive in the back. That is what we are looking for.”

It is a big week for the Wildcats as far as postseason seeding goes. Louisburg has three games in five days and it starts at 6 p.m., Tuesday when it travels to undefeated De Soto.

The Wildcats will then travel to Baldwin on Thursday for a 3:45 p.m. matchup — a game that was originally scheduled for Monday, but had to be moved due to wet field conditions. Louisburg will wrap it all up Friday at home against Kansas City Christian.

“It is huge,” Conley said. “We have Baldwin, which is a physical team, and then we have one of the best teams in Class 5A right now in De Soto, who hasn’t lost a game yet. They are trying to go undefeated and it would be great to play spoiler there. It will be on the turf so it will be quick and we just have to be ready to go. We have back-to-back away games, and that definitely isn’t a good thing, but it is what it is. We are just going to do our job, take one game at a time and see what happens.”