Wildcats bounce back to beat Spring Hill on road

Freshman Cade Gassman leaps in the air to put a shot on goal off a corner kick Tuesday in Spring Hill. Louisburg defeated the Broncos, 1-0, on a late goal by Treston Carlson.

SPRING HILL – For the first time
all season, the Louisburg boys soccer team had to play a match after coming off
a loss and Wildcat coach Kyle Conley was curious how his team would respond.

Conley got his answer Tuesday when Louisburg traveled to face off with Spring Hill in a Frontier League match. The Wildcats responded just fine.

The Wildcats broke open a scoreless game on a go-ahead goal with seven minutes remaining in the second half and left Spring Hill with a 1-0 victory. The win puts Louisburg’s record at 10-1-1 on the season and the Wildcats currently have a two-game lead in the standings for the No. 1 seed in the state playoffs.

“It was nice to see the boys respond,” Conley said. “I think we did a nice job of playing hard and playing good clean soccer. We did a very nice job of controlling the pace of play and attacking what they gave us. I was very pleased with how hard we played and how we moved the ball.”

Junior Treston Carlson provided the heroics for Louisburg as he snuck a shot past the Spring Hill keeper with 7 minutes and 50 seconds left in the match to give the Wildcats they goal they had been looking for.

Louisburg
took 21 shots on the night, 10 of which were on goal. Carlson had half of those
with five, while sophomore Braden Yows and freshman Cade Gassman and three and
two, respectively.

“We
did a nice job of creating chances all night,” Conley said. “I think the boys
are putting some added pressure on themselves and over thinking some of our
situations. We were creating lot of chances but couldn’t quite find the back of
the net.

“Treston found himself in a really good spot and buried it. He has been so close the past couple games, so it was great to see him put one away.”

Defensively,
the Wildcats were able to limit the Broncos’ shots on goal as senior goalie
Garrett Rolofson was able to get the shutout. Spring Hill had just four shots
on goal thanks to the back line of Toby Espina-Roca, Will Frank, Michael
Seuferling, Luke Faulkner, Ryan Haight and Ethan Showalter.

“I
think we did a really nice job to limit their opportunities and chances for the
most part,” Conley said. “We held our back line and played really sound
defense. I was excited to see the boys respond the way that they did. I really
liked how we matched their intensity.”

The Wildcats are toward the top of the Frontier League standings and will try and stay that way as they host Eudora at 4 p.m. today. The Cardinals, which have a 6-3-1 record on the season, defeated Baldwin earlier in the year, which is the lone team to beat the Wildcats.

“Eudora is playing really well right
now and are on a six game winning streak,” Conley said. “It is a big game and
we will need to be ready to play, regardless where we play. It is important
that we play our game and we dictate the pace. They are very physical and play
really fast. Should be a great game.”