Wildcats get pair of shutouts to continue winning streak

Louisburg defender Madison Quinn tries to dribble past an Ottawa player Tuesday in Louisburg. The Wildcats picked up a pair shutout victories last week, including a 1-0 win Thursday in Eudora.

The Louisburg girls soccer team had to deal with two different opponents Thursday when the Wildcats traveled to Eudora.

Not only did the Wildcats have to contend with the Cardinals, but they also had to go against a blustery wind that didn’t give them many chances in one half of Thursday’s match. Despite that, Louisburg found a way to get a big road win.

The Wildcats used a second-half goal from Erin Lemke to leave Eudora with a 1-0 victory and they have now won three consecutive matches.

“It was a game of two halves against Eudora,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said. “The wind was blowing 25 miles-per-hour in our face and we did a nice job of handling their pressure. We were able to have 3 or 4 fantastic opportunities but struggled to capitalize in the first half.

“The second half the wind died down compared to the first half, but we controlled the game and had tons of chances, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. I think the girls did a nice job of limiting their offensive chances, but we struggled at times with our execution.”

Early in the second half, Louisburg (8-3) was awarded a corner kick and Lemke was in the right place at the right time as she put the attempt away and found the back of the net.

The Wildcats had plenty of other opportunities throughout the match, but the Cardinals (4-7) packed their defense in and didn’t allow many good looks at the goal.

Still, Louisburg was able to leave with Eudora with a victory as it put together a solid defensive effort, including a second consecutive shutout from goalie Carson Buffington.

 “I like how hard we played and the amount of energy we played with,” Conley said. “I think it was a wake-up call to our girls not to take anything for granted. We didn’t play our best game, but we were able to survive. Sometimes you need to win ugly games and we did just that.”

Louisburg has a busy week ahead of itself as it hosts Basehor-Linwood at 4:30 p.m. today and then will travel to Tonganoxie tomorrow for a match. The Wildcats will conclude their week with another home game Thursday when they will host Bonner Springs.

“It is a big week for us,” Conley said. “We have three games with teams that play really hard, with a lot of energy. I think this week will show us where we are at and what we are made of. It is going to be a challenging week, and I think that it will help us for a playoff run.”

Wildcats blank Ottawa

It truly was a team effort Tuesday when Louisburg hosted Ottawa at Wildcat Sports Complex.

The Wildcats scored six times and never looked back in what was a 6-0 victory over the Cyclones. Although the Wildcats were dealing with some injuries, Louisburg head coach Kyle Conley was able to get all 22 players into the game at one point and a lot of them saw significant minutes.

“We played pretty well and moved the ball very nicely for a majority of the first half,” Conley said. “We worked on some things and put some players in positions we do not usually play, but the girls played hard. I felt we got a little complacent at the start of the second half, but the girls played pretty well for from about the first five minutes of the second half and on.

“We were able to get all 22 kids into the game and let them continue to get varsity experience. The defense did a great job limiting them to just one shot, while the offense had 47 shots.”

Juniors Mackenzie Scholtz and Trinity Moore were a problem for the Cyclones all night as the two combined for five of the six Louisburg goals.

Moore scored the game’s first and final goals, while Scholtz had three straight scores as she had a hat trick in the first half. Sophomore Olivia Barber also had a nice goal for the Wildcats late in the first half to give them a 5-0 lead at halftime.

Goalies Carson Buffington and Sierra Hahn combined for the shutout and Buffington nearly got her first career goal late in the match. Buffington had three shots on goal, including a penalty kick opportunity, but was turned away but the Ottawa goalie.

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