Wildcats continue winning ways with victory over Eudora

Louisburg junior Ethan Showalter takes a shot during the first half of the Wildcats’ home match against Eudora on Thursday.

It wasn’t a victory that solidified
anything for the Louisburg boys soccer team – but it came pretty close.

Louisburg hosted Eudora on
Thursday and pulled away for a 4-1 victory. It was a win that helped Wildcats
maintain a hold on their postseason goals.

The Wildcats, who are now 11-1-1
on the season, are sitting atop the Frontier League and currently have the best
record in the Class 4A East standings. The victory helped set up what could be
a special finish.

“I think this team realizes that
we are in the hunt for a league title, and that we are sitting really well for
a No. 1 seed in the playoffs,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “It is a lot
of fun right now. The kids are playing hard and they are playing for each other
and that is the best part.”

Mother Nature tried to make things
interesting for the Wildcats as it poured on the two teams during the first 15
to 20 minutes. In that time, Eudora was awarded a penalty kick and converted to
take an early 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals didn’t have the lead for more than a minute as senior Colin Cook tied it up as he scored off a rebound on a shot from junior Treston Carlson. Midway through the first half, Louisburg took the lead for good on a goal from senior Logan Faulkner.

“That is probably the hardest rain
I have been a part of in a soccer game,” Conley said. “It was just dumping.
Then it stopped and then would start dumping again. We knew it was going to
rain, knew it was going to be cold and I don’t think it affected our guys much.
We played well and we moved the ball really well in the first half and they
chased us all over the place.”

Louisburg kept the pressure on in
the second half as freshman midfielder Ethan Ptacek made it 3-1 on an assist
from senior teammate Ryan Haight. Carlson added a goal himself to ice the match
with under two minutes remaining.

The Wildcats dominated possession
for much of the match and that turned into 14 shots on goal and 20 shots
overall.

Carlson and freshman Cade Gassman
each had three shots on goal to lead Louisburg. Sophomore Braden Yows, along
with Cook and Ptacek, finished with two.

“They (Eudora) were physical,
aggressive and they fouled us a lot and our kids kept their heads for the most
part and played hard,” Conley said. “I am really excited and it was a great win
for us after getting one at Spring Hill. Eudora is really good too. I think
this was a good showing for us and we did our job and we executed really well.

“I think we might have left four
(goals) on the board there in the first half. We were on the doorstep several
times, and one even hit the net that I thought was a goal. It was nice to see
the guys possess the ball, make them chase us and then attack. It should give
us some confidence moving forward.”

Defensively, the Wildcats limited
Eudora to just five shots on goal and four of them were saved by senior goalie
Garrett Rolofson.

“We did a good job for the most
part on defense,” Conley said.  “I think
we lost our marks a couple times, but we probably could have played a little
more aggressive in back, but I thought we still did well. Our outside backs got
beat up a little bit, but I thought they held their ground well and Rolo did
his job.”

Louisburg will try for its fourth
straight victory tonight as it hosts Paola for a 6 p.m. start. It is also
Alumni Night for Louisburg and former players are invited to come back and be
recognized.

The Wildcats know they can have a special ending to their season if they continue to do what they have done through the first 13 matches.

“We are just focused on (this) week
and we have Paola on Monday,” Conley said. “They are a good team and are
playing well right now. We are going to have to do our job and play one game at
a time and see what happens.”