Wildcats stay unbeaten with road win at Basehor-Linwood

Louisburg sophomore Hunter Rogers makes a pass to a Wildcat teammate Tuesday at Basehor-Linwood High School.

BASEHOR – A pair of contrasting
styles was on display Tuesday at Basehor-Linwood High School as a smaller and
quicker Louisburg team squared off with a big and physical Basehor-Linwood
squad.

Speed won out this time around.

Louisburg scored a pair of first half goals and never looked back in a 3-0 shutout of Basehor-Linwood and the Wildcats have yet to lose as they are now 3-0 on the season.

“We just needed play quicker so
they couldn’t come get to us,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “We struggled
a little bit with that early, but we started to play the ball quicker, moving
it quicker and then they had to chase us. If you try to play physical with a
team that is twice our size, we are obviously going to lose that match. It was
good for our boys to realize what our advantage was and to take advantage of
that.

“Basehor is a big, strong and talented team and they have a relentless attack. They are really good and I think we held up strong back there.”

The Wildcat defense did its job as it posted its second shutout of the season, thanks in part to the Louisburg back line of senior Will Frank, junior Luke Faulkner, sophomore Michael Seuferling and freshman Toby Espina Roca. For Frank, it was the first match of the season after coming back from injury, and the returning starter provided stability in the back.

Senior goalie Garrett Rolofson
also turned away several Bobcat shots as he ended the night with five saves.

“The four of them played really
well and they did their job,” Conley said of his defense. “We rotated through
and they kept playing hard. Toby played well, Luke played well on the back side
and I think Michael might have been the man of the match. Will did a good job in
the middle, so those guys did a good job of holding their line and holding
their ground and not giving an inch.

“Will got his first start, so it
was nice to have him back. We probably played him a little too much, but that
is ok. He was being a leader back there for us.”

Fifteen minutes into the match,
the Wildcats got on the board. Freshman Ethan Ptacek raced down the right side
of the field, beat his defender and found the back of the net on a breakaway
opportunity to give Louisburg the lead.

Junior Treston Carlson added on to
it later in the half when he connected on a shot from 25 yards out that sailed
over the Bobcat goalie’s head to give the Wildcats a two-goal advantage.

Freshman Cade Gassman cemented the
win in the second half with a goal of his own with 13 minutes remaining in the
match on an assist from Braden Yows. Gassman had four of the team’s 12 shots on
goal and was on the attack most of the night.

“We have spots that we have to
clean up really quick, but for the most part I thought we played really well,”
Conley said. “I thought we possessed the ball well, broke them down a little
bit and had a lot of chances on goal where we could have scored even more.”

The Wildcats will try and stay
undefeated today when it hosts Bonner Springs. The match has been moved up to 4
p.m. due to weather concerns.

Louisburg, which defeated Bonner
Springs in overtime last season, will face a Braves squad that is looking for a
little revenge from a year ago.

“Bonner graduated 16 seniors, but
they are a much different team and have a different philosophy,” Conley said. “They
do a good job of listening to their coach and they are going to play hard and
play quick. We are going to have to do our job and execute, otherwise it could
be a rough night.

“We have to come ready to go. The Frontier
League is the best league in the state when it comes to 4A soccer, so it is
going to be a battle every night and I am sure Bonner will be ready to go.”