Wildcats bounce back with road win at Tonganoxie

TONGANOXIE — Coming off a home loss last week, the Louisburg girls soccer team was hoping to get back on winning track in its next match

To do that, the Wildcats were going to have to win on the road. They got it done in a tight matchup on April 15 at Tonganoxie. 

In a tied contest at halftime, Louisburg senior Rowan Yows scored a pair of second half goals to help the Wildcats past the Chieftains, 3-1, and the Wildcats improved their record to 5-2 on the season.

“It’s always good to bounce back after a loss, especially being able to win on the road,” Roquemore said. “Tonganoxie is a team that gets better each year and they really pushed us hard with their scrappy play and great free kicks. We had some messy moments and some stellar moments in that game.”

The Wildcats had several chances on goal throughout the game — many of which sailed just wide or off the post or crossbar. Despite that, they were able to get on the board when Kahlan Harris scored off a rebound on a shot from Cora Roche midway through the first half.

Tonganoxie didn’t waste much time getting back in it. Natalie Loving scored the equalizer in the next minute on a free kick from more than 30 yards out to make it 1-1.

It stayed that way till 10 minutes into the second half when Yows scored her first goal on a give-and-go from Harris to put the Wildcats up 2-1. Yows added another goal in the final minutes of the match to seal the win for Louisburg.

The Wildcats were on the attack for most of the match as they had 14 shots on goal to just seven for Tonganoxie.

“We created some great opportunities offensively,” Roquemore said. “Beyond our three goals, there were at least four other chances that were prime goal-scoring opportunities created through our play. Kahlan was really aggressive up top, both Baileigh (Johnson) and Cora also created chances. Rowan had a big game in the midfield offensively as well.”

Although the Wildcats were able to limit the Chieftain offense, Tonganoxie was still able to create some dangerous opportunities. That was in part thanks to the speed of Loving.

The Wildcat back line of Caroline Apple, Jaden Bentz, Lila Edwards and Faith Sewell, along with the work of midfielders Rylee Moore and Riley May, were able to limit Tonganoxie’s chances.

“We ran a slightly different formation to keep one of Tongie’s best players marked the entire game,” Roquemore said. “She still made her mark with a fantastic free kick goal, but Rylee Moore and Riley May both kept her well-contained throughout the game by man-marking. Our defense had to scramble a few times, but overall our back four did a great job shutting them down.”

Outside of the free kick goal, Louisburg keeper Ally Brown held the Chieftains out of the net as she put together a solid performance with six saves.

“I was really impressed with Ally coming out of the goal during the game,” Roquemore said. “She was fast and aggressive going to the ball and prevented opportunities by stopping them early in the box. (Michael) Pickman came out to help with some goal-keeper training this season and the work Ally has been putting in with him paid off in this game.”

Louisburg will try for back-to-back road wins on April 17 as the Wildcats travel to Bonner Springs. The Braves are 4-1-2 to start the season and haven’t lost since late March.

Wildcats fall to Spring Hill at home

Louisburg had chance to get a big home win over one of the top teams in the Frontier League when it hosted Spring Hill on April 8.

The Wildcats got out to a good start as they scored in the opening minute, but Spring Hill scored four unanswered goals to hand Louisburg a 4-2 loss.

Kahlan Harris found the back of the net off a rebound to put Louisburg up 1-0 early, but Spring Hill scored twice off corner kick opportunities to take a 2-1 lead at halftime.

The Broncos added two more goals in the second half before Wildcat freshman Layla Sewell scored late in the game to make it a 4-2 contest.