Wildcats suffer first loss with setback at Spring Hill

Louisburg goalie Carson Buffington comes out for save Wednesday during the Wildcats’ road contest at Spring Hill. The Wildcats fell to Spring Hill 4-2, which is their first loss of the season.

SPRING HILL – The Louisburg girls soccer
team had been unstoppable going into Wednesday’s road match with Spring Hill.

Louisburg won its first four
matches to start the season and did so by outscoring its opponents by 19 goals.
The Wildcats were on cruise control, but came up against a talented Spring Hill
squad that tested them in every facet of the game.

Although the Wildcats took an
early lead, and were in a tie match late in the contest, the Broncos used two
late goals to give Louisburg its first defeat of the season in a 4-2 loss at
Spring Hill High School.

“I thought our girls played their tails
off,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “We played with a massive amount of
energy and played really hard. Spring Hill is a quality team. In fact, they one
of the best teams we will face all year. Not only were they very skilled, but
they had speed a lot of positions. The game gave us a lot to work on and things
for us to improve on. I am proud of how we competed.”

The Wildcats (4-1) got on the board first
when junior Mackenzie Scholtz received a through ball from teammate Trinity
Moore. Scholtz then beat the Bronco defense and placed the shot in the back of
the net to give Louisburg a 1-0 lead midway through the first half.

Spring Hill tied it up with three minutes
remaining before halftime and then carried that momentum into the second half
when it scored two minutes in off a corner kick to take a 2-1 advantage.

With 25 minutes left in the match, the
Wildcats evened the score when junior Erin Lemke beat the Spring Hill goalie to
the ball near the top of the box and then put away an empty-netter.

The Broncos, however, put the game away
in the final minutes. Spring Hill took the lead on a goal with six minutes
remaining and then added another four minutes later to all but seal the win.

Spring Hill controlled the possession at times, but the Wildcat defense was able to turn away several Bronco scoring attempts and goalie Carson Buffington had some big saves. It was a match that was closer than the score indicated and Conley was pleased with the effort his team showed.

“This team has a massive amount of team chemistry,” he said. “They are extremely competitive and play for each other. The girls play hard from start to finish. I was so excited with our fight and not backing down. We talked about the quote, ‘Bend, don’t break.’ Regardless if something negative or positive happens, we need to stay level headed and keep competing. The girls did just that. We made a few mistakes that Spring Hill capitalized on. We will work to clean those up and get better at practice.”

Their four-game winning streak may have
gone away, but the Wildcats accomplished a lot during that stretch and it
started with their defense.

Louisburg shut out each of its four
opponents thanks to the back five of Kaitlyn Lewer, Camdyn Clark, Madison
Quinn, Avery O’Meara and Hallie Hutsell, along with the efforts of Buffington.

“The defense was absolutely lights out so
far to start our season,” Conley said. “Even against Spring Hill, I think we
defended well and gave them shots from distance. We did a nice job of executing
our game plan. The first four games we were extremely impressive. The defense
and goalkeepers had 356 minutes and 4 seconds of shutout soccer. That’s
incredible. I am extremely happy with our defensive core and their improvement
each and every day.”

Offensively, the Wildcats also got good
production from Scholtz and she was on a goal-scoring tear during that stretch.
Scholtz scored 13 goals in her first four matches and currently has 14 for the
season.

“Mac has been on fire for us the first
five games,” Conley said. “It will be hard to imagine anyone in the state having
that many goals so far this season. She is absolutely on fire. To make that
stat even more impressive, she has been limited in minutes because the games
were so lopsided. She is off to a terrific start and is going to have a great
year.”

The Wildcats will try and get back on the
winning track Tuesday when it hosts Eudora. The match is set to begin at 6 p.m.
at the Wildcat Sports Complex.

LOUISBURG SHUTS OUT KANSAS CITY CHRISTIAN

The day before Louisburg was supposed to
play its toughest match on the road against Spring Hill, the Wildcats hit the
road Tuesday to square off with Kansas City Christian.

As it turned out, it was a nice tune-up for
the Wildcats as they shut out KCC, 6-0, at Johnson County Community College.

The Wildcat offensive attack was on full
display from the get-go as they scored in the first minute on a goal from
junior Mackenzie Scholtz and never looked back. In fact, the Wildcats got four
goals from Scholtz as she recorded her fourth consecutive hat trick.

Louisburg also had a pair of goals from
junior Erin Lemke and assists from junior Trinity Moore, sophomore Olivia Barber
and freshman Reese Johnson. It was as an all-around strong performance from the
Wildcat offense.

“We came out slow in the previous week
against Bonner Springs, so we focused a lot on being ready to play,” Louisburg
coach Kyle Conley said. “The moment the girls got off the bus the girls were
ready. We come out and had some great combination play and scored in the first
30 seconds of the game. Our girls played extremely hard and aggressive.

“I was really pleased with how well we
worked and battled. We played very well and did a fantastic job limiting dangerous
opportunities. We got the opportunity to get a lot of people in the game and get
some reps. It was nice because those kids work so hard in practice to get their
chance to get some varsity time.”

The defense was also a strong point for
the Wildcats as senior goalie Carson Buffington earned her fourth consecutive
shutout and the back line of Kaitlyn Lewer, Camdyn Clark and Madison Quinn
helped limit the chances.